A strong geomagnetic storm is expected to start tonight and in the early hours of tomorrow, which will affect the whole Earth, including Bulgaria. It is the result of prolonged eruptions of the Sun, which have been observed since October 26 this year. Since then, there have been a series of eruptions that were initially weaker. Yesterday there was a very strong eruption of the Sun, and today – a slightly weaker eruption, said for BTA Assoc. Prof. Petya Trifonova – Deputy Director of the National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography of BAS / NIGGG-BAS /.
“Probably this mass of charged particles emitted by the Sun will reach the Earth during the night and a magnetic storm will form. The most affected areas are expected to be those that are over 50 degrees latitude, and Bulgaria is below them and It is expected that in our country the geomagnetic storm will be of a weaker degree “, explained Assoc. Prof. Trifonova.
She said the magnetic storm was expected to disrupt navigation and satellite communications. There may also be X-rays at the height. The magnetic storm can affect the high-frequency signals that are transmitted, including from satellite navigation networks (GPS). There was a very strong magnetic storm during this period in October and in 2003, and it lasted more than two weeks, reminded Assoc. Prof. Petya Trifonova.
According to her, the current magnetic storm will start tomorrow and is expected to last several days, depending on how long the eruptions of the Sun will last. “We are now at the beginning of the cycle of solar activity, and the Sun should not be so active. The moment the Sun erupts, what it emits, like a mass, pours into the Earth, and so a geomagnetic storm forms.
It is expected that for the last ten years, the forthcoming geomagnetic storm will be one of the strongest – to reach K-index 7, which is not of the highest degree “, explained the Deputy Director of NIGGG-BAS.
Assoc. Prof. Trifonova noted that according to medicine, the disturbances caused by geomagnetic storms affect people who have high blood pressure, as well as those with problems in the cardiovascular system, sleep problems and depression.
NIGGG-BAS explains that geomagnetic storms are large and sharp disturbances in the values of the earth’s magnetic field, caused by its interaction with the solar wind. The Earth’s own magnetic field, which is generated in its core, creates a kind of shield on our planet, in the absence of which the solar wind would carry away the entire atmospheric layer of the Earth. As happened on Mars many years ago.
When an eruption is observed from one of the active regions of the Sun, a stream of plasma is released into interplanetary space, which is fired at a speed of between 600 and 900 kilometers per second. Usually, it takes about two days for this stream to reach Earth. Despite the shield formed by the Earth’s magnetosphere, this current manages to penetrate the polar regions and cause the formation of powerful current systems around the equator and the polar circles. Then the beautiful auroras are observed due to the interaction of solar particles with air molecules. A magnetic storm also forms. It is strongest around the poles and the equator, due to the generated currents, and weakens in the middle latitudes, where the territory of Bulgaria is located. For this reason, we are additionally protected from the strongest observed changes in the magnetic field.
In Bulgaria, the geomagnetic field is registered in one of the oldest observatories on the Balkan Peninsula – “Geomagnetic Observatory Panagyurishte” (PAG). The observatory has the most modern equipment and submits real-time information both to the world data centers and to the website of NIGGG-BAS. The values of the magnetic field are monitored around the clock and calculated.
The strength of magnetic storms is determined by degrees and is denoted by the so-called K-index. The degrees of this index vary from 0 to 9. At values from 0 to 3, the bars of the index are colored in green (the field is calm), at 4 – in yellow (attention!), There are observed disturbances in the field and at values from 5 up – in red, a storm has been registered.
Geomagnetic storms are a serious threat to technical facilities, such as electrical networks, telecommunications systems and satellite navigation networks (GPS), according to NIGGG-BAS.
