Today, the geomagnetic storm red alert is in effect! Will it keep us awake?

According to the National Space Weather Monitoring and Early Warning Center, the National Space Weather Monitoring and Early Warning Center issued a red alert for geomagnetic storms at 9:00 on May 11: A geomagnetic storm will occur from 23:00 Beijing time on May 10, 2024, and the maximum level will reach a super-large geomagnetic storm (Kp=9). It is expected that the magnetic storm process will continue in the next 24 hours, and large geomagnetic storms may still occur in the future.

Affected by the geomagnetic storm, the ionosphere in most parts of my country will be disturbed, and shortwave communications and navigation positioning will be affected to varying degrees; the density of the upper atmosphere will increase significantly, which will lead to an increase in the orbital attenuation of low-orbit satellites.

The sun gets angry, and "gives" a beautiful aurora?

Magnetic storms are a phenomenon caused by solar activity. During extremely strong solar activity events, the high-energy particles ejected disturb the Earth's magnetic field and enter the atmosphere, forming an atmospheric luminescence phenomenon, which is the aurora phenomenon that many astronomy enthusiasts yearn for.

The intensity of the aurora can often be predicted by the geomagnetic storm level (G index) and Kp value (K index). According to the National Space Weather Monitoring and Early Warning Center, from 23:00 on May 10 to 11:00 on May 11, Beijing time, the Earth experienced geomagnetic activity, including a 9-hour Kp index (i.e., global magnetic field index, the larger the value, the stronger the geomagnetic activity) of 9 and a 3-hour Kp index of 8. This brought about a large-scale "aurora show" that was far beyond expectations.

The geomagnetic index calculated by SWPC (U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center) based on data from global geomagnetic stations

Image source: National Space Weather Monitoring and Early Warning Center

From the evening of May 10 to the early morning of May 11, the Earth began to put on a "light show". In Xinjiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Hebei and other places in my country, obvious auroras that broke through the sky were observed and recorded, which was amazing:

Image source: Sina Weibo @Jeff's Starry Sky Journey

What impact do geomagnetic storms have on humans?

According to the National Space Weather Monitoring and Early Warning Center, in the next three days, due to the combined influence of multiple previous halo CMEs (coronal mass ejections) and coronal hole high-speed flows, small to large geomagnetic storms, or even greater intensity geomagnetic activities, may occur.

Geomagnetic storms will have certain impacts on modern society. For example, the space station may lose orbital altitude due to atmospheric drag, satellite navigation equipment errors will increase, and aviation will face the dual risks of poor communication environment and cross-polar radiation. In extreme cases, geomagnetic storms will also directly affect global radio communications.

The impact of geomagnetic storms on the Earth also includes electric field disturbances and the impact on the current system in Earth space. A large amount of energy is dissipated in Earth space, heating the Earth's atmosphere, which in turn causes the atmosphere to diffuse to higher space, creating greater flight resistance for space stations and spacecraft, and also interfering with the orbital flight status of satellites.

In addition, strong geomagnetic activity may affect the migration and navigation abilities of animals. From this perspective, pigeon enthusiasts are trying to reduce pigeon release activities in bad weather conditions and over long distances these days.

As for human health, the public does not need to worry too much. Experts say that geomagnetic storms usually do not affect human health, and the interference to modern commonly used electronic communication products is also very small, but astronauts working on the International Space Station may be more affected by geomagnetic storms.

As for what more people are worried about: headaches, insomnia, inability to get out of bed, not wanting to go to work, bad mood... most of them are psychological effects. Although some studies have shown that solar activity and the accompanying geomagnetic disturbances have a certain correlation with human blood pressure fluctuations, this correlation has not been directly and clearly studied further. For more ordinary people, there is currently no sufficient evidence to show that geomagnetic storms have an impact on physical condition . Therefore, don't let geomagnetic storms take the blame!

Comprehensive sources: National Space Weather Monitoring and Early Warning Center, Xinhuanet, China News Network, etc.