An extreme geomagnetic storm of the fifth degree on the five-point scale for the intensity of geomagnetic storms was observed on Earth for the first time since 2003, reported Agence France-Presse, citing the US Atmospheric and Oceanographic Administration.
The powerful storm was observed on Friday evening and was triggered by a series of coronal mass ejections from the Sun.
Earlier, American experts warned that they had issued an alert for a storm with an intensity of four degrees, but in the end the geomagnetic element turned out to be even more powerful.
It could affect power grids, spacecraft, satellite navigation, GPS and other technologies, experts warn.
People will be protected by the Earth’s magnetic field.
The last major Category 5 storm was in October 2003 and was known as the “Halloween Storm”. At the time, there were blackouts in Sweden and transformer failures in South America.
The geomagnetic storm will now continue through the weekend.
Such storms also give rise to impressive auroras, which sometimes appear in more southern than usual observation regions, BTA points out.
In addition, transpolar flights between Europe, Asia and North America are likely to be rerouted to avoid increased radiation exposure to passengers and crew.
The culprit of the storm is a cluster of sunspots visible on the right side of the sun’s disk, which is 16 times wider than Earth. The sun, which goes through an 11-year cycle of waxing and waning, is approaching the peak of the current one, which began in December 2019.
The cluster ejects bits of coronal mass, or plasma clouds, every 6 to 12 hours, with the latest erupting around 3 a.m. in New York, said Brent Gordon, chief of the Space Services Branch of the Space Weather Prediction Center.
“Pete is just amazing. I’m amazed,” said Michael Wiltberger, a scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research. “It’s a very rare occurrence.”
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