GEOMAGNETIC STORM - AURORA SURPRISE

[Sowelu]

 

AURORA SURPRISE: On May 29th, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) tilted south and opened a crack in Earth's magnetosphere. Solar wind poured in and fueled a G1-class geomagnetic storm. Northern Lights were sighted as far south as Wisconsin:

"The auroras were amazing last night," says photographer Jason Exferd of Iron River, WI. "I took this 13-second exposure using my Canon Rebel XS."

The storm has subsided now. The next storm is due on May 31st or June 1st when a solar wind stream is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field.


Found here

[Sowelu]

I don't really know what all this really means, but it sure stands out like a sore thumb to me!

I found this on the NOAA Solar Data site. This is a chart of the Solar Magetics, the Magnatometer. The normal range of magnetics typically hovers around 0-100 nanoTeslas (nT), it looks like...

But late today, it suddenly shot up to around 2450 nanoTeslas! (See vertical red line in chart, just before Jun10 date mark, still on Jun 9th at about 19 hrs or 7PM UT) Check it out!



Here's an explanation of the chart data...

The GOES Hp plot contains the 1-minute averaged parallel component of the magnetic field in nanoTeslas (nT), as measured at GOES-13 (W75) and GOES-11 (W135). The Hp component is perpendicular to the satellite orbit plane and Hp is essentially parallel to Earth's rotation axis. If these data drop to near zero, or less, when the satellite is on the dayside it may be due to a compression of Earth's magnetopause to within geosynchronous orbit, exposing satellites to negative and/or highly variable magnetic fields. On the nightside, a near zero, or less, value of the field indicates strong currents that are often associated with substorms and an intensification of currents in the Earth's geomagnetic tail.

Noon and midnight local time at the satellite are plotted as N and M. Default scaling is 0 to 200 nanoTesla. Non-default scaling to include infrequent extreme values is lableled in red to emphasize the change in scale.

www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/mag_3d.html

If anyone understands all that, please feel free to share! LOL! At any rate, it seemed noteworthy to me...

Love,
Sowelu