We should not forget that the Earth’s atmosphere can be seriously affected by “weather”. ABOVE sun!
Auuoral performances are especially frequent in March for reasons I will explain later.
The sun’s surface is not uniform over time, with various sunspots and “solar storms”, including solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which eject solar particles out of the sun and can disturb the sun’s magnetic field.
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Such solar disturbances may be associated with auroras at higher latitudes and disruptions in radio communications and power transmission.
CMEs and other solar disturbances are regulated by the number of sunspots on the sun’s surface, with more sunspots leading to more activity.
Sunspots change over time, with the 11-year cycle being the most prominent (see below)
Importantly, we are now approaching the peak of a cycle (see illustration below). Therefore, the possibility of “activity” of the sun during this period increases.
But there’s more than that.
The potential for auroras and other solar effects on Earth is maximized during our current season. As shown in the next figure, the number of days a solar disturbance impacts the earth; atmosphere of Peaks in early spring and early fallnear the equinox (night and day are of equal length)
Why so?
It is related to the direction of the earth’s axis relative to the sun. During the equinox, the poles are oriented perpendicular to the sun’s rays and the magnetic fields of the sun and the earth are optimally aligned to produce auroras (I won’t go into detail here). .
Additionally, you can see the sun rising almost simultaneously from north to south from the satellite image visible this morning (below). The end point separating day and night is a vertical line from the North pole to the South pole.
So should you expect any auroral activity soon? The NOAA Space Weather Center has issued a SMALL geomagnetic storm warning following several small solar flares a few days ago. Nothing serious, but it will boost acoustic activity in northern latitudes. Nothing serious.
But get ready for more exciting solar storms. The geophysical dice are in their favor this year and this season.
