PARIS, FRANCE — It could be said that the study of electricity is the study of magic — and the magic of magnetism is part of this invisible but very powerful force.
New data shows the Sun’s radiation is interacting with the Earth’s core to create dangerous electrical slam-downs on Earth. Here are the details:
The European Space Agency, or ESA, reports that clusters of spacecraft it had launched in recent years, are showing that solar radiation is interacting with the Earth’s core to create harmful electromagnetic micro-storms on Earth.
Scientists took data from a cluster of four ESA satellites orbiting far away from Earth, and combined it with data from a trio of ESA satellites that orbit close to Earth to measure magnetic signals emanating from Earth’s core, crust and oceans.
The data showed that an electromagnetic phenomenon called “bursty bulk flows” in outer space is connected to intense magnetic field fluctuations near Earth’s surface.
“Bursty bulk flows” are bursts of ions that travel at a whopping 150 kilometers per second.
The new data shows that the fluctuations near Earth are connected to field-aligned currents high above Earth that contain these fast-moving “bursty bulk flows.”
Scientists say they can now confirm that intense magnetic field perturbations near Earth are connected to the arrival of such “bursty bulk flows” farther out in space.
Researchers think the new data can help them predict where solar storms could strike the hardest.
One of the hardest electromagnetic slam-downs hit Quebec during a solar storm in 1989, destroying electrical equipment and causing a major blackout.
