Huge Geomagnetic Storm Descends on Earth

Submitted by UAF Geophysical Institute
Phone: (907) 474-7468
11/21/03

The second largest geomagnetic storm on record has allowed people in mid-latitudes to see the aurora borealis and could possibly make for outstanding aurora viewing over Alaska through Saturday, Nov. 22.

The geomagnetic storm, which began around 11 a.m. Alaska time on Nov. 20, was the largest recorded storm since a storm in March 1989 knocked out power to the entire province of Quebec. Though it is not known if the Nov. 20 storm affected power grids, scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute did receive reports of intense aurora activity from people in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Austria.

A sunspot that generated huge solar flares in October and early November is again the driver of the geomagnetic activity. Because the sun rotates every 27 days, the sunspots that generated huge solar flares in late October are now rotating back toward Earth. On Nov. 20, the sunspot erupted in a coronal mass ejection, which sent a burst of charged particles toward Earth. Earth’s magnetic field happened to be aligned in a favorable way for a geomagnetic storm.

"We just happened to get a gust of solar wind that hit the Earth very hard," said Dirk Lummerzheim, a research professor who studies the aurora at the Geophysical Institute.

Though geomagnetic storms can induce currents in long conductors, such as power lines or the trans-Alaska pipeline, those effects are rare, but outstanding auroras are not. Geophysical Institute aurora forecaster Charles Deehr predicts maximum auroral activity through Saturday, meaning that auroras could occur all across the U.S., northern Europe and southern Australia and New Zealand.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: The Geophysical Institute issues a daily aurora forecast that can be found at www.gi.alaska.edu.

CONTACT: Dirk Lummerzheim, UAF Geophysical Institute research professor, (907) 474-7564 or Ned Rozell, UAF Geophysical Institute science writer, (907) 474-7468.