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Tempestades Geomagnéticas

Terça-feira, 04.09.18

[Hoje e Ontem.]

 

A hole – a region where the sun's magnetic field opens up and allows solar wind to escape – in the sun's atmosphere is directly facing Earth and spewing a stream of solar wind toward our planet. It looks dark in extreme UV images of the sun because the hot glowing plasma normally contained there is missing. In this case, the gaseous material is en route to Earth. Minor geomagnetic storms are possible on Sept. 7th when the solar wind arrives. (spaceweather.com/03.09.2018)

 

159 YEARS AGO, A GEOMAGNETIC MEGA-STORM

 

auroramap D.jpg

 

On Sept. 2, 1859, a powerful CME rocked Earth's magnetic field, causing a geomagnetic storm that set fire to Victorian telegraph offices and sparked auroras as far south as Mexico and Cuba. Now known as the

 

"CARRINGTON EVENT"

 

That megastorm 159 years ago is a touchstone of modern extreme space weather research. What are the odds it could happen again?

 

auroramap A.jpg

 

Sept. 2, 2018

(Dr.Tony Phillips/spaceweather.com/ September 3, 2018)

 

Picture this: A billion-ton coronal mass ejection (CME) slams into Earth’s magnetic field. Campers in the Rocky Mountains wake up in the middle of the night, thinking that the glow they see is sunrise. No, it’s the Northern Lights. People in Cuba read their morning paper by the red illumination of aurora borealis. Earth is peppered by particles so energetic, they alter the chemistry of polar ice.

 

auroramap E.jpg

 

Hard to believe? It really happened 159 years ago. This map shows where auroras were sighted in the early hours of Sept. 2, 1859:

 

As the day unfolded, the gathering storm electrified telegraph lines, shocking technicians and setting their telegraph papers on fire. The “Victorian Internet” was knocked offline. Magnetometers around the world recorded strong disturbances in the planetary magnetic field for more than a week.

 

auroramap B.jpg

 

The cause of all this was an extraordinary solar flare witnessed the day before by British astronomer Richard Carrington. His sighting on Sept. 1, 1859, marked the discovery of solar flares and foreshadowed a new field of study: space weather. According to a NASA-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences, if a similar “Carrington Event” occurred today, it could cause substantial damage to society’s high-tech infrastructure and require years for complete recovery.

 

Could it happen again?

 

Almost certainly. In a paper published just a few months ago, researchers from the University of Birmingham used Extreme Value Theory to estimate the average time between “Carrington-like flares.” Their best answer: ~100 years. In other words, we may be overdue for a really big storm.

 

[Podendo (segundo os estudos efetuados) a repetição de um fenómeno semelhante (Evento de Carrington) estar sujeito a um ciclo de tempo (introduzindo o erro de previsão) podendo atingir uns mil anos. Ou (muito pouco provável dado o Sol encontrar-se aparentemente num mínimo solar) ser Já amanhã.]

 

(texto e imagens: spaceweather.com)

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publicado por Produções Anormais - Albufeira às 16:17