But such effects have rarely been seen during Solar Cycle 24, even though the total number of CMEs hasn’t dropped off much, if at all. The explanation, researchers said, lies in the reduced pressure currently present in the heliosphere, the enormous bubble of charged particles and magnetic fields that the sun puffs out around itself. This lower pressure has allowed CMEs to expand greatly as they cruise through space, said Nat Gopalswamy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Indeed, Solar Cycle 24 CMEs are, on average, 38 percent bigger than those measured during the last cycle — a difference with real consequences for folks here on Earth. “When the CMEs expand more, the magnetic field inside the CMEs has lower strength,” Gopalswamy said. “So when you have lower-strength magnetic fields, then they cause milder geomagnetic storms.” –Space.com
SPACE — The sun’s current space-weather cycle is the most anaemic in 100 years, scientists say. Our star is now at “solar maximum”, the peak phase of its 11-year activity cycle. But this solar max is weak, and the overall current cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, conjures up comparisons to the famously feeble Solar Cycle 14 in the early 1900s, researchers said. “None of us alive have ever seen such a weak cycle. So we will learn something”, Leif Svalgaard of Stanford University told reporters here today (Dec. 11) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. The learning has already begun. For example, scientists think they know why the solar storms that have erupted during Solar Cycle 24 have caused relatively few problems here on Earth. The sun often blasts huge clouds of superheated particles into space, in explosions known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Powerful CMEs that hit Earth squarely can trigger geomagnetic storms, which in turn can disrupt radio communications, GPS signals and power grids.
But such effects have rarely been seen during Solar Cycle 24, even though the total number of CMEs hasn’t dropped off much, if at all. The explanation, researchers said, lies in the reduced pressure currently present in the heliosphere, the enormous bubble of charged particles and magnetic fields that the sun puffs out around itself. This lower pressure has allowed CMEs to expand greatly as they cruise through space, said Nat Gopalswamy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Indeed, Solar Cycle 24 CMEs are, on average, 38 percent bigger than those measured during the last cycle — a difference with real consequences for folks here on Earth. “When the CMEs expand more, the magnetic field inside the CMEs has lower strength,” Gopalswamy said. “So when you have lower-strength magnetic fields, then they cause milder geomagnetic storms.” –Space.com
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C(Lie)mate #3 - What Doesn't Make The News (Fading solar magnetics affecting earth/solar system) Published on 15 Nov 2013 For More: http://www.suspicious0bservers.org (Music - "Mindless" followed by "Can't Stop" - by Nemes1s) Primary Citations: 'The Magnetics of the Solar System' (from channelling "The Recalibration of the Universe") Live Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll, January 27, 2012 [paraphrased] There is a shift going on in this planet. The magnetic field of the earth is critical to your consciousness. Magnetics is a quantum energy. So is gravity, and so is light. You are surrounded by a quantum field - the magnetic field of the earth. If Human consciousness is going to change, magnetics will change …. your magnetics has moved greatly since 1989. The magnetics of your entire planet has to recalibrate and it's going to need help. Your solar system is the engine of magnetic change for this planet. In your solar system, the core is the sun. It sends out the solar wind, which is almost entirely magnetic. It's a magnetic energy that blasts out from the sun. That magnetic energy - the heliosphere - "blows" that magnetic wind against the magnetics of your own earth, and that changes your planet. Watch for changes in your sun, they're a recalibration for you. Watch the sun, for it is in the process of shift. It is happening through intelligent design, the love of God and the Creator, changing things for your consciousness. It is a new way of thinking that is developing, literally touching the very DNA field of each Human. This changes the information within the DNA and allows the Human Being to capture and enhance attributes of a new reality it never had before. Something has been on the way for a very long time. The magnetics of your solar system itself is changing. As your solar system moves through space it intersects certain attributes of space and this is changing some of the magnetics, which then become different from the way they ever were before. This then changes the sun. Do you see the cycle? One enhances the other in a fractal of circular reality. Your movement around the [galactic] center changes your solar system. The solar system's new position changes the sun's attributes. The sun's attributes are sent to the planet via the heliosphere and this affects your DNA. Read the entire channelling "The Recalibration of the Universe" at : http://www.kryon.com/k_channel11_Patagonia%201-12.html Note: Entire channelling can be read and listened to at :
http://www.ascensionnow.co.uk/the-recalibration-of-the-universe---kryon.html © NASA According to NASA, the sun is about to reverse polarity. The sun's magnetic field is about to flip upside down as it reverses its polarity. In August Nasa said the reversal would happen in three to four months time, although it would be impossible to pinpoint a more specific date. Solar physicist Todd Hoeksema from Stanford University said that the reversal would have "ripple effects" across the whole of the solar system. According to Nasa the sun's magnetic field changes polarity approximately every 11 years. In comparison the last time the Earth's magnetic field flipped was almost 800,000 years ago. When this happens the opposing magnetic poles switch places so the magnetic field is flipped. The pole reversal happens at the peak of each solar cycle as the sun's "inner magnetic dynamo" reorganises itself. The exact internal mechanism that drives the magnetic shift is not yet entirely understood by researchers, although the sun's magnetic field has been monitored on a daily basis by Scientists at Stanford's Wilcox Solar Observatory. This will be the fourth such shift that the observatory has monitored. Throughout the 11 year solar cycle new polarity builds up as 'sunspots' which are areas of intense magnetic activity that appear as blotches near the equator of the sun's surface. Over a month long period these sunspots disintegrate and the intense magnetic activity migrates from the sun's equator to one of the sun's poles. According to Hoeksema as the magnetic field moves towards the pole it erodes the existing opposite polarity. He said: "It's kind of like a tide coming in or going out, each little wave brings a little more water in, and eventually you get to the full reversal." As to what effect this may have, scientists said it could be widespread. The sun's magnetic field exerts its influence in a wide space, known as the heliosphere. The heliosphere stretches well beyond Pluto and is as far reaching as NASA's Voyager probes close to the edge of interstellar space. During a magnetic flip the sun is also typically at its peak. Another possible impact is that the sun's altered magnetic field could interact with the Earth's own magnetic field which could increase the number and range of auroras. It could also have an effect on power distribution grids and GPS satellites. However the Sun's magnetic 'flip' could also help protect the Earth. During the reversal the sun's 'current sheet' becomes wavy. The current sheet is a surface that jets outwards from the sun's equator. A more wavy current sheet acts as a better barrier to deflect cosmic rays which can be a danger to astronauts and space probes. Some scientists say that cosmic rays can also affect the Earth's climate and level of cloudiness. It will certainly help those hoping to glimpse the spectacular northern lights. Scientists won't know for the next three weeks whether the flip is complete. Lucy Kinder, The Telegraph, UK Thu, 14 Nov 2013
Big sunspot AR1890 is crackling with strong flares. The latest, which peaked on Nov. 8th at 04:32 UT, registered X1 on the Richter Scale of Flares. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a flash of extreme UV radiation from the blast site. This sunspot has a signature: It tends to produce very brief flares. The X1-flare was no exception as it lasted barely a minute. Brevity mitigates Earth-effects, so this intense flare was not strongly geoeffective--at least, not at first. The explosion also hurled a CME into space: movie. The cloud could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on Nov. 10-11, possibly sparking polar geomagnetic storms. More eruptions are in the offing. www.spaceweather.com SPOOKY AURORAS? NOAA forcasters estimate a 25% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Oct. 31st when a CME is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. It was propelled in our direction by an M4-class flare from sunspot AR1882 on Oct. 28th. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on Halloween. ANOTHER X-FLARE: Consider it a parting shot. Just before sunspot AR1875 rotated over the sun's western limb on Oct. 29th, it unleashed a powerful X2-class solar flare. NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the explosion's extreme ultraviolet flash: X-rays and UV radiation from the flare ionized the top of our planet's atmosphere. Waves of ionization disturbed the normal propagation of radio waves over the Americas and the Pacific, and may have caused an HF communications blackout over the poles. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) recorded a bright CME emerging from the blast site. Given the sunspot's location on sun's western limb, however, it is unlikely the CME will reach our planet. Analysts at NOAA are busy evaluating the possibility of a glancing blow in the days ahead. Sunspot AR1875 has left the Earthside of the sun, but other active sunspots remain. NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of M-class flares and a 25% chance of X-flares on Oct. 30th. www.spaceweather.com Earth-orbiting satellites detected an X1-class solar flare from sunspot AR1875 on Oct. 28th at 0203 UT. This is the 3rd X-flare since Oct. 25th, which means solar activity is still high. Stay tuned for more information about the latest eruption.
August 5, 2013: Something big is about to happen on the sun. According to measurements from NASA-supported observatories, the sun's vast magnetic field is about to flip. "It looks like we're no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal," says solar physicist Todd Hoeksema of Stanford University. "This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system." The sun's magnetic field changes polarity approximately every 11 years. It happens at the peak of each solar cycle as the sun's inner magnetic dynamo re-organizes itself. The coming reversal will mark the midpoint of Solar Cycle 24. Half of 'Solar Max' will be behind us, with half yet to come. Astronomers at the Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO) monitor the sun's global magnetic field on a daily basis. Hoeksema is the director of Stanford's Wilcox Solar Observatory, one of the few observatories in the world that monitor the sun's polar magnetic fields. The poles are a herald of change. Just as Earth scientists watch our planet's polar regions for signs of climate change, solar physicists do the same thing for the sun. Magnetograms at Wilcox have been tracking the sun's polar magnetism since 1976, and they have recorded three grand reversals—with a fourth in the offing. Astronomers at the Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO) monitor the sun's global magnetic field on a daily basis. WSO home page Solar physicist Phil Scherrer, also at Stanford, describes what happens: "The sun's polar magnetic fields weaken, go to zero, and then emerge again with the opposite polarity. This is a regular part of the solar cycle." A reversal of the sun's magnetic field is, literally, a big event. The domain of the sun's magnetic influence (also known as the "heliosphere") extends billions of kilometers beyond Pluto. Changes to the field's polarity ripple all the way out to the Voyager probes, on the doorstep of interstellar space. When solar physicists talk about solar field reversals, their conversation often centers on the "current sheet." The current sheet is a sprawling surface jutting outward from the sun's equator where the sun's slowly-rotating magnetic field induces an electrical current. The current itself is small, only one ten-billionth of an amp per square meter (0.0000000001 amps/m2), but there’s a lot of it: the amperage flows through a region 10,000 km thick and billions of kilometers wide. Electrically speaking, the entire heliosphere is organized around this enormous sheet. During field reversals, the current sheet becomes very wavy. Scherrer likens the undulations to the seams on a baseball. As Earth orbits the sun, we dip in and out of the current sheet. Transitions from one side to another can stir up stormy space weather around our planet. An artist's concept of the heliospheric current sheet, which becomes more wavy when the sun's magnetic field flips. More Cosmic rays are also affected. These are high-energy particles accelerated to nearly light speed by supernova explosions and other violent events in the galaxy. Cosmic rays are a danger to astronauts and space probes, and some researchers say they might affect the cloudiness and climate of Earth. The current sheet acts as a barrier to cosmic rays, deflecting them as they attempt to penetrate the inner solar system. A wavy, crinkly sheet acts as a better shield against these energetic particles from deep space. As the field reversal approaches, data from Wilcox show that the sun's two hemispheres are out of synch. "The sun's north pole has already changed sign, while the south pole is racing to catch up," says Scherrer. "Soon, however, both poles will be reversed, and the second half of Solar Max will be underway." When that happens, Hoeksema and Scherrer will share the news with their colleagues and the public. Stay tuned to Science@NASA for updates. Credits: Author:Dr. Tony Phillips| Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA More information: Is Solar Max Double-Peaked? -- ScienceCast video SPACE WEATHER FACT CHECK: Many readers are asking about a report in the Washington Examiner, which states that a Carrington-class solar storm narrowly missed Earth two weeks ago. There was no Carrington-class solar storm two weeks ago. On the contrary, solar activity was low throughout the month of July. The report is erroneous. The possibility of such a storm is, however, worth thinking about: A modern Carrington event would cause significant damage to our high-tech society. FIRST PERSEIDS OF 2013: Earth is entering a broad stream of debris from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Although the shower won't peak until August 12-13, when Earth hits the densest part of the stream, the first Perseids are already arriving. "Despite poor weather over our network of meteor cameras, we detected three Perseid fireballs on July 30-31," reports Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. He made this plot showing the orbits of the meteoroids: In the diagram, the green lines trace the orbits of Perseid meteoroids. All three intersect Earth (the blue dot). The orbit of the parent comet is color-coded purple. An inset shows one of the fireballs shining almost as brightly as the Moon: video. The shower is just getting started. Rates should remain low for the next week as Earth penetrates the sparse outskirts of the debris stream, then skyrocket to ~100 meteors per hour as the calendar turns to the second week of August. Stay tuned for more fireballs. [meteor radar] [NASA: Perseid fireballs]. CORONAL HOLE: Magnetic fields in the sun's northern hemisphere have opened up, forming a coronal hole. This UV image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the opening as a dark gap in the sun's upper atmosphere: Coronal holes are places in the sun's atmosphere where the magnetic field bends back and allows the solar wind to escape. A stream of solar wind flowing from this particular coronal hole will reach Earth on August 3-4. Its impact could spark a minor geomagnetic storm, so high-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.
Another space weather fact check: News sources such as space.com and Fox News recently reported a "giant hole in the sun." Fact: The "giant hole" was a fairly run-of-the-mill coronal hole, only slightly larger than usual. In defense of the journalists, their stories were prompted by a NASA report. The report was accurate, but it showed a high-contrast image of the sun, which made the coronal hole look bigger and deeper than it actually was. An SDO image taken at approximately the same time (July 18) shows the true scale of the hole. www.spaceweather.com Solar Cycle 24 is shaping up to be the weakest solar cycle in more than 50 years. In 2009, a panel of forecasters led by NOAA and NASA predicted a below-average peak. Now that Solar Max has arrived, however, it is even weaker than they expected. Look inside the yellow circle to see the shortfall: It may be premature to declare Solar Cycle 24 underwhelming. Solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center thinks Solar Cycle 24 is double peaked--and the second peak is yet to come. Also, weak solar cycles have been known to produce very strong flares. The strongest solar storm in recorded history, the Carrington Event of 1859, occurred during a relatively weak solar cycle like this one. Stay tuned for flares? Maybe, but not this week. Solar activity remains very low. www.spaceweather.com
British archaeology experts have discovered what they believe to be the world’s oldest ‘calendar’, created by hunter-gatherer societies and dating back to around 8,000 BC. The Mesolithic monument was originally excavated in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, by the National Trust for Scotland in 2004. Now analysis by a team led by the University of Birmingham, published 15 July 2013 in the journal Internet Archaeology, sheds remarkable new light on the luni-solar device, which pre-dates the first formal time-measuring devices known to Man, found in the Near East, by nearly 5,000 years. The capacity to measure time is among the most important of human achievements and the issue of when time was ‘created’ by humankind is critical in understanding how society has developed. Until now the first formal calendars appear to have been created in Mesopotamia c. 5,000 years ago. But during this project the researchers discovered that a monument created by hunter gatherers in Aberdeenshire nearly 10,000 years ago appears to mimic the phases of the Moon in order to track lunar months over the course of a year. The site, at Warren Field, Crathes, also aligns on the Midwinter Sunrise, providing an annual astronomic correction in order to maintain the link between the passage of time, indicated by the Moon, the asynchronous solar year and the associated seasons. University of Birmingham : unibirmingham One important step towards the formal construction of time
Project leader Vince Gaffney (see video), Professor of Landscape Archaeology at the University of Birmingham, comments: ‘The evidence suggests that hunter gatherer societies in Scotland had both the need and sophistication to track time across the years and to correct for seasonal drift of the lunar year, and that this occurred nearly 5,000 years before the first formal calendars known in the Near East. In doing so, this illustrates one important step towards the formal construction of time and therefore history itself.’ Dr Richard Bates, of the University of St Andrews, comments: ‘St Andrews has an established reputation for remote sensing studies of early prehistoric sites in Scotland but the site at Warren Field is unique. It provides exciting new evidence for the earlier Mesolithic in Scotland demonstrating the sophistication of these early societies and revealing that 10,000 years ago hunter gatherers constructed monuments that helped them track time. This is the earliest example of such a structure and there is no known comparable site in Britain or Europe for several thousands of years after the monument at Warren Field was constructed.’ Unusual crop marks The Warren Field site was first discovered as unusual crop marks spotted from the air by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS). Dave Cowley, Aerial Survey projects manager at RCAHMS, said: ‘We have been taking photographs of the Scottish landscape for nearly 40 years, recording thousands of archaeological sites that would never have been detected from the ground. Warren Field stands out as something special, however. It is remarkable to think that our aerial survey may have helped to find the place where time itself was 'invented'.’ Clive Ruggles, Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy at the University of Leicester, who advised the team, points out that ‘the site did not mark particular moonrises, as the changing patterns of moonrise are far too complex – the argument is that it represents a combination of several different cycles which can be used to track time symbolically and practically. There are certainly hunter-gatherer societies who use the phase cycles of the moon to help synchronise different seasonal activities but it is remarkable that this could have been monumentalised at such an early period.’ From 2004-6 the National Trust for Scotland excavated the Warren Field pit alignment, which lies on its Crathes Castle Estate, in collaboration with Murray Archaeological Services. The Trust’s Archaeologist for Eastern Scotland, Dr Shannon Fraser, said: ‘This is a remarkable monument, which is so far unique in Britain. Our excavations revealed a fascinating glimpse into the cultural lives of people some 10,000 years ago – and now this latest discovery further enriches our understanding of their relationship with time and the heavens’. Dr Christopher Gaffney, of the University of Bradford, adds: ‘For pre-historic hunter-gatherer communities, knowing what food resources were available at different times of the year was crucial to survival. These communities relied on hunting migrating animals and the consequences of missing these events were potential starvation. They needed to carefully note the seasons to be prepared for when that food resource passed through, so from this perspective, our interpretation of this site as a seasonal calendar makes sense.’ Contacts and sources: University of Birmingham http://beforeitsnews.com/watercooler-topics/2013/07/the-beginning-of-time-worlds-oldest-calendar-found-10000-years-old-2433532.html Published on 14 Jul 2013 How to Watch the Sun: Spaceweather 101 - http://youtu.be/ld5ecZuHECA Energy from Space 2.0: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15b-jx... Original music by NEMES1S : http://www.suspicious0bservers.org/shop/ [Get NEMES1S Music!] http://www.soundclick.com/nemes1s TODAY's New LINKS: Ice Age: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/scienc... The REAL Climate Changer: http://youtu.be/_yy3YJBOw_o Ice Age Soon? http://youtu.be/UuYTcnN7TQk An Unlikely but Relevant Risk - The Solar Killshot: http://youtu.be/X0KJ_dxp170 For Repeat Links to many other information websites used by Suspicious Observers in his videos,
go to Category 'Suspicious Observers' in the right hand column Published on 30 Jun 2013
Spaceweather 102: http://youtu.be/JpIuXPmSalk How to Watch the Sun: Spaceweather 101 - http://youtu.be/ld5ecZuHECA The REAL Climate Changer: http://youtu.be/_yy3YJBOw_o Ice Age Soon? http://youtu.be/UuYTcnN7TQk An Unlikely but Relevant Risk - The Solar Killshot: http://youtu.be/X0KJ_dxp170 Original music by NEMES1S : http://www.suspicious0bservers.org/shop/ [Get NEMES1S Music!] http://www.soundclick.com/nemes1s Animations and Visual Effects by Xaviar Thunders [Check him out on YouTube] June 7, 2013: Every summer, something strange and wonderful happens high above the north pole. Ice crystals begin to cling to the smoky remains of meteors, forming electric-blue clouds with tendrils that ripple hypnotically against the sunset sky. Noctilucent clouds—a.k.a. "NLCs"--are a delight for high-latitude sky watchers, and around the Arctic Circle their season of visibility is always eagerly anticipated. News flash: This year, NLCs are getting an early start. NASA's AIM spacecraft, which is orbiting Earth on a mission to study noctilucent clouds, started seeing them on May 13th. "The 2013 season is remarkable because it started in the northern hemisphere a week earlier than any other season that AIM has observed," reports Cora Randall of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado. "This is quite possibly earlier than ever before." This diagram shows why NLCs are best seen at sunset or sunrise. The early start is extra-puzzling because of the solar cycle. Researchers have long known that NLCs tend to peak during solar minimum and bottom-out during solar maximum—a fairly strong anti-correlation. "If anything, we would have expected a later start this year because the solar cycle is near its maximum," Randall says. "So much for expectations."
For sky watchers, this means it's time to pay attention to the sunset sky, where NLCs are most often seen. An early start could herald brighter clouds and wider visibility than ever before. Noctilucent clouds were first noticed in the mid-19th century after the eruption of super-volcano Krakatoa. Volcanic ash spread through the atmosphere, painting vivid sunsets that mesmerized observers all around the world. That was when the NLCs appeared. At first people thought they must be some side-effect of the volcano, but long after Krakatoa's ash settled the noctilucent clouds remained. "They've been with us ever since," says Randall. "Not only that, they are spreading." When AIM was launched in 2007, the underlying cause of NLCs was still unknown. Researchers knew they formed 83 km above Earth's surface where the atmosphere meets the vacuum of space--but that's about all. AIM quickly filled in the gaps. "It turns out that meteoroids play an important role in the formation of NLCs," explains Hampton University Professor James Russell, the principal investigator of AIM. "Specks of debris from disintegrating meteors act as nucleating points where water molecules can gather and crystallize." The above diagram shows why NLCs are best seen at sunset or sunrise. NLCs appear during summer because that is when water molecules are wafted up from the lower atmosphere to mix with the "meteor smoke." That is also the time when the upper atmosphere is ironically coldest. Back in the 19th century, NLCs were confined to high latitudes. You had to go to Alaska or Scandinavia to see them. In recent years, however, they have been sighted as far south as Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska. Some researchers believe that the spread of NLCs is a sign of climate change. One of the greenhouse gases that has become more abundant in Earth's atmosphere since the 19th century is methane. "When methane makes its way into the upper atmosphere, it is oxidized by a complex series of reactions to form water vapor," says Russell. "This extra water vapor is then available to grow ice crystals for NLCs." The early start of the 2013 season appears to be caused by a change in atmospheric “teleconnections.” “Half-a-world away from where the northern NLCs are forming, strong winds in the southern stratosphere are altering global circulation patterns,” explains Randall. "This year more water vapor is being pushed into the high atmosphere where NLCs love to form, and the air there is getting colder." "All of this has come as an interesting surprise for us," notes Russell. "When we launched AIM, our interest was in the clouds themselves. But now NLCs are teaching us about connections between different layers of the atmosphere that operate over great distances. Our ability to study these connections will surely lead to new understanding about how our atmosphere works." Credits: Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA ANOTHER X-FLARE ON MAY 15: When the week began, the sun hadn't unleashed an X-flare all year long. In only two days, sunspot AR1748 has produced four. The latest X-flare - X1 -from this active sunspot occurred on May 15th at 01.52 UT. Although the sunspot is not directly facing Earth, this flare might have produced a CME with an Earth-directed component. We are waiting for coronagraph data from SOHO and the twin STEREO probes to check this possibility. In summary, AR1748 has produced an X1.7-class flare (02.17 UT on May 13), an X2.8-class flare (16.09 UT on May 13), an X3.2-class flare (01.17 UT on May 14), and an X1-class flare (01.52 on May 15). These are the strongest flares of the year, and they signal a significant increase in solar activity. ION WAVES IN THE ATMOSPHERE: Although AR1748 is not directly facing Earth, its strong flares have nevertheless affected our atmosphere. UV and X-radiation hitting the top of the atmosphere ionizes atoms and molecules, creating ion waves over the dayside of the planet. Roberto Battaiola detected these waves on May 13th using a Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance monitor in Milan, Italy: Sudden ionospheric disturbances--"SIDs" for short--make themselves known by the effect they have on low-frequency radio signals. When a SID passes by, the atmosphere overhead becomes a good reflector for radio waves, allowing signals to be received from distant transmitters. Battaiola monitored a faraway 21.75 kHz radio station to monitor the SIDs over his location.
More SIDS are in the offing as NOAA forecasters estimate an 80% chance of M-flares and a 50% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours. www.spaceweather.com |
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