A magnetic wave that hits the earth at hundreds of kilometers per second. The American weather service SWPC warns about this. In addition, the wave would cause a ‘geomagnetic storm’. Michiel Brentjens of ASTRON from Dwingeloo explains how all this can come about.
“The sun has been restless in recent days, there have been several explosions. And they occur because magnetic fields get tangled. And when they get out of hand, a lot of energy is released,” says radio astronomer Brentjens. That energy is full of magnetic force and can have a significant impact if it collides with the magnetic field around the Earth.
“People who will notice something of this work, for example, in defense, international aid organizations and in aviation or shipping”, Brentjens knows. “They use radio links and communication over great distances. Those systems can be disrupted. Another thing we can notice is that GPS reception can be a little bit worse for a while.”
The SWPC ranks the magnetic storms on a scale of 1 to 5, with the latter category being an extreme one. The storm coming to Earth tomorrow is no more than a Class 1 storm, according to the SWPC.