“May 10th was definitely a Great Storm”

Posted: May 20, 2024 by oldbrew in atmosphere, Geomagnetism, History, solar system dynamics
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South Pacific Auroras Confirm May 10th Was a Great Storm
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  1. oldbrew says:
    May 21, 2024 at 11:44 am

    MORE AURORAS IN AFRICA: For the first time in 30 years, Spaceweather.com has received photos of auroras in Africa. They appeared during the historic geomagnetic storm on May 10, 2024. The latest submissions come from Tivoli Astro Farm in Namibia where Richard Payne photographed the display:

    https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=21&month=05&year=2024

  2. bobweber says:
    May 23, 2024 at 5:04 am

    The May 11 2024 G5 storm drove the second-ranked daily geomagnetic Ap index level since 1932 at 274, just below the 280 maximum from 11/13/1960, and it also had the third-ranked 3-day sum of the Ap index at 446, just below the March 1989 event and the Halloween storm of October 2003.

    Other notable things that happened was the large area sunspot group that day that drove TSI down to solar minimum levels, and below the next day, and there was a powerful X5.8 flare among many other flares that week.
    Spaceweather.com said there were up to 6 CMEs merged from the flares.

    My cross polar cap potential (CPCP) chart recorded the highest value I ever saw, and I had to quickly extend the range on the CPCP plot axis to 750 kV.

  3. saighdear says:
    May 23, 2024 at 2:37 pm

    I can only but take your word for it … I only see the Auroras nowadays through other folk’s tinted glasses… their InstaCams whence I first saw it (them – plural ) for myself when nobody else ever saw/noticed/spoke about it, let alone KNEW about it. So! have there been any reports about effects on Powerlines, lately? If not , why NOT ? just saying.

  4. oldbrew says:
    May 23, 2024 at 4:18 pm

    The May 2024 storm – rated G5 on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 1-to-5 Geomagnetic Storms scale – disrupted GPS communications enough to throw off tractor guidance, which requires centimeter-level precision. Stronger storms would have much more serious consequences.

    https://earthsky.org/sun/solar-storms-affect-on-power-grid-internet/

    Power utilities had advance warning this time.

  5. oldbrew says:
    May 23, 2024 at 5:05 pm

    Airbus UK to build satellite to monitor Sun storms

    22 May 2024

    British engineers will lead the development of a new satellite to monitor the Sun for the energetic outbursts it sends towards Earth.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0jkjnkzqpzo

  6. oldbrew says:
    May 24, 2024 at 9:04 am

    “On May 10-11, geoelectric amplitudes exceeded 10 V/km in Virginia and 9 V/km in the upper Midwest,” says Jeffrey Love, a key member of the collaboration at the USGS. “These are very high. For comparison, we estimate that geoelectric amplitudes reached almost 22 V/km in Virginia during the March 1989 storm.”

    This means the May 2024 storm was, electrically speaking, about half as intense as the storm that blacked out Québec 35 years ago. That’s too close for comfort. “Although power companies have taken measures to improve the resilience of their systems, no one would welcome another storm as intense as that of March 1989,” says Love. [bold added]

    Realtime electric field maps are published 24/7 on the NOAA website. During the next geomagnetic storm, click here to see what’s happening underfoot!

    https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=24&month=05&year=2024

  7. oldbrew says:
    May 24, 2024 at 12:10 pm

    Extreme Space-Weather Events and the Solar Cycle – 2021

    We also show that the available observations are consistent with the most extreme events occurring more frequently during large solar cycles than small cycles. Finally, we report on the difference in extreme-event occurrence during odd- and even-numbered solar cycles, with events clustering earlier in even cycles and later in odd cycles. Despite the relatively few events available for study, we demonstrate that this is inconsistent with random occurrence.

    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11207-021-01831-3

    The recent storm doesn’t fit any of these criteria.

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