A powerful geomagnetic storm, the strongest in nearly two decades, was observed early Saturday morning.
China's National Center for Space Weather announced its first watch of a G5 geomagnetic storm, the strongest rating on a scale from G1 to G5, early Saturday morning since 2006.
A G4 storm was observed at 11 pm on Friday (Beijing time), and it then upgraded to G5 and lasted from 5 am through 11 am on Saturday.
Multiple moderate and strong solar flares were associated with coronal mass ejections, which disturbed the Earth's magnetic field and resulted in this round of geomagnetic storms.
Sudden ionospheric disturbances were observed in parts of China in the past 24 hours.
The center issued a red alert on geomagnetic storm at 9 am on Saturday, the highest in its warning system, predicting more occurrence in the following days and cautioning about the impact of the storms on short-wave communication, navigation systems and in-orbit satellites.
5 Comments
Eugene Alta
We should take these geomagnetic storms seriously and prepare for any potential impacts on our daily lives and technology systems.
BuggaBoom
This geomagnetic storm serves as a reminder of the interconnectedness of the Earth and space, and how events in one can affect the other.
Eugene Alta
I find it fascinating how sudden ionospheric disturbances were observed in parts of China during this geomagnetic storm. Nature is truly amazing.
Loubianka
This whole G5 rating on a geomagnetic storm scale seems like an arbitrary way to measure something that doesn't directly affect us on Earth.
Katchuka
The media loves to sensationalize these types of natural events. It's just a distraction from what's really important.