Solar Storms, Your Basic Guide.

A Foreword

I'm no expert, Remember this and as such you must consider this to be my opinion.

If any of this is quoted, Link back to here.

If any of this is quoted outside of GLP, Do the above and also place a link in here to where it is quoted.

-------Index-------

Search and find;
Introduction to Solar Storms
Viewing the Sun
Stereo
Soho
The Solar Dynamics Observatory, SDO
Image Artifacts
Websites and Other Resource Links
Sunspots
Filaments
Prominences
Flare's
Coronal Mass Ejection's, CME's
Coronal Holes
Solar Tsunami's
The ACE Satellite
The Magnetosphere
The Interplanetary Magnetic Field, IMF
Types of Solar Wind and Their Sources
Geomagnetic Storms
Polarity
Auroras
Storm Classifaction and Effects
The Worries About Solar Storms
Geomagnetic Storms and Power Outages
Geomagnetic Storms and Technology
Solar Storms and Earthquakes
Past Events
Forecasting Solar Storms
Effect From Magnetic Field Fluctuations on the Human Mind/Body
Gamma Ray Bursts, GRB's

---------------------------------------------Solar Storms, Your Basic Guide---------------------------------------------

-------Introduction to Solar Storms-------

The sun, our source of heat and light, our source of light and protection from the strange and unknown things in our galaxy and in fact the universe.

But the gentle mistress in our sky can cause a threat to our way of life and our lives themselves, This guide will explain all about solar storms and how they might effect us, and will hopefully give you some insight into when to worry and when not to worry.

The sun is estimated to be over 4 billion years old, and as such our small planet has been threatened before by it's massive storms.

The sun has a basic 11 year cycle where it moves from a solar minimum to a solar maximum and back again.

During the minimums we see less storms, less sunspot and generally the sun being quiet and stable.

During the maximums the sun frequently launches powerful billion ton CME's and erupts with mighty flares, It can appear to be active and angry and these are the times when we are most likely to get hit by a Super solar storm.

All will be explained as you travel deeper through the knowledge that this guide contains.

So sit back and prepare yourself for what will be the best viewed and understood solar maximum ever.

-------Viewing the Sun-------

This can be done a number of ways, using data from a satellite or ground based observatory, using a telescope with a solar filter, or for a short time at sunset or sunrise.

I would advise against looking directly at the sun, but you should know your own eyes tolerance for brightness.

-------Stereo-------

[link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]
And [link to stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov]

Stereo has two satellites, one trailing behind earth and one ahead of earth they are not perfectly on earth's orbital path but close to it. See here: [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov] Due to this the satellites have a unique vantage point for views on the sun and coronal mass ejections.

Each Stereo satellite has an array of instruments onboard, These are Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope's in different wavelengths, coronagraph cameras, heliospheric imager's, sensors designed for Plasma and SupraThermal Ion and Composition research along with an analyzer of solar wind electrons, a magnetometer and a matrix of detectors for measuring the ions and electrons accelerated at the time of a coronal mass ejection, see data here: [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov] also there is an instrument for interplanetary radio bursts

Data on stereo is low resolution for a few days (usually 2-3) before the higher quality science data comes in, see example here: [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov]

The sun rotates left to right in the images.

On the left you find the behind cameras, for the EUVI images on the left you will see the current state of the sun, the center of the sun in this image is around 1 week away from facing earth.

The cor1 and cor2 cameras for the behind satellite , and for this any ejection you see on the right hand side of this image is heading in earth's general direction, this does not mean to say that it will hit earth, anything on the other side is heading away from earth (you must try to confirm this with other viewpoints, soho's lasco cameras and stereo ahead).

The opposite of all of this is true for the ahead camera on the right (center of the Euvi image on ahead has passed the earth about 7 days ago), And in the center column you will find images from SDO and Soho.

At the bottom of the page you will see the Hi1 and Hi2 cameras, ahead is on the left and behind is on the right this time, those cameras look at the space between the sun and the earth, and so due to the position of the sun in each respective image the iamges from each satellite are now on the opposite side, this is to place the sun in the center.

-------Soho-------

[link to sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov]

The SOHO satellite orbits the lagrange point 1 in space about 1 million miles closer to the sun than earth.

For information about the lagrangian points see: [link to en.wikipedia.org]

Soho uses many different instruments to capture a view of the sun, these are Michelson Doppler Imagers, Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope's on different waves lengths and Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph's.

The sun rotates left to right in the images.

The Soho satellite goes through keyhole procedures, rolls and the all too common CCD Bakeouts, along with occasioanl image corruption.

Keyhole procedure explained: [link to sci.esa.int]

The "spacecraft rolls" are exactly what they sound like.

And CCD bakeouts: [link to www.esa.int]

Soho's view of the sun is basically the same as our view from earth.

What you see dead center on the images is facing us.

For the lasco images the same is true and it can be a very useful tool in determining the path of a CME.

-------The Solar Dynamics Observatory, SDO-------

[link to sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov]

The most advanced and the best satellite based sun imager available to us today.

There is so much on this satellite that I feel it is best just to link you to the mission information page: [link to sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov]

-------Image Artifacts-------

Now, these appear all the time, most notably on soho and stereo.

Most of what you will see are simply caused by cosmic rays hitting the camera lense.

Most of the cosmic rays that we see are emitted by our sun, whereas others come from beyond our solar system. these are particulary high energy particles mostly protons and on the euvi and eit cameras tend to appear as blobs example: [link to stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov]

On the lasco and Cor cameras they appear as a few different things, sometimes specks that look just like star, other times they appear as streaks [link to stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov] and on the lasco cameras appear like this: [link to sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov] (closest to the sun, the other is a planet) a lot.


Other image artifacts your may come across can be debris, usually has a "donut" like effect due to proximity to the camera, see here: [link to stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov] and internal reflections, most noted on stereos hi1 cameras, this is venus leaving the edge of the image (on the right) [link to stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov] the internal reflection is the ring of light. the "explosion" of light is caused by diffraction of light of off the edge of the camera baffles.

-------Websites and Other Resource Links-------

I implore you to get familiarised with all these websites as they hold massive amounts of data.

[link to www.swpc.noaa.gov] Primary website for most solar data from earth based satellites, ground based stations and ACE.

[link to www.n3kl.org] One stop shop for your basic needs for arriving particle data.

[link to www.swpc.noaa.gov] Another one stop shop, please click the dials for more information.

[link to www2.nict.go.jp] Your friendly realtime magnetosphere simulation, data input is from the ACE satellite (the dials above).

[link to 137.229.36.30] and [link to 137.229.36.30] A lot of people just like to use it, but it's basically just one of the ground stations for measuring the energy of solar storms, it's very much like this one: [link to www.n3kl.org]

[link to spaceweather.com] A very good website, keeps up to date and provides information of coming storms and other celestial events.

[link to solarimg.org] Massive amounts of data sources

[link to www.solarcycle24.com] Again same as the others, find one you like ;)

[link to www.lmsal.com] Good for recent flares :)

If you have more which I have over-looked please say and I'll see about adding them.

-------Sunspots-------

Sunspots can come in a variety of forms, but are basically just tangled magnetic field lines in and around a dark spot, they appear dark because they are cooler than the surrounding area. [link to spaceweather.com]

They are numbered you will usually see references to suspots as for example AR1094 or just 1094.

A sunspot is numbered as it comes over the eastern limb to our viewpoint, or as it is formed on the earth facing side, A sunspot that survives for a full rotation and comes around again will get a new number, this is because when they are many many sunspots on the sun it is hard to keep track of them all, that and we don't have full coverage of the sun, so to make it simpler each time one comes around the eastern limb it is given a new number.

It is the tangled magnetic field lines that are the cause of most of the flares and CME's that we see, as these come under stress they tend to snap and particles can be launched out as the magnetic field line breaks and gets pulled out of the tangle to reconnect, taking particles with it and whipping them out into space.

Or as the magentic field lines snap and try to reconnect they can draw up particles from under the surface of the sun and release vast amounts of energy in a very short time peroid, the energy is released as light and electromagnetic waves and by accelerating particles, protons, heavy ions, to near the speed of light.

Both can happen at the same time.

Sunspots can stay active for vast amounts of time and can grow and shrink, the more tangled and compelx the magnetic field of them the more magnetic potential energy they have the bigger flare or CME they can likely produce.

Sunspots are the primary method of analyzing a solar cycle, more of them in maximum, less in minimum.

-------Filaments-------

Filaments are part of the gaseous/plasma atmosphere of the sun. They are particles suspended and held in place by magnetic fields and can grow to be quite dense.

They are easily visable due to the cooling effect that being stationary has on the tops of them and so they appear while looking straight on at them as dark lines or blobs on the sun, example here: [link to t1.gstatic.com]

-------Prominences-------

Prominences you may hear this word a lot, They are filaments, nothing more nothing less, this is when a filament is viewed from an angle as to put to black of space behind it.

Most the time these are only noted on websites when a filament comes around the sun into our viewpoint or moves towards leaving our viewpoint and is massive or being launched off the sun. Other times they go mostly ignored.

-------Flare's-------

A flare is a sudden brightening of part of the sun's surface, A flare is caused when twisted magnetic field lines on the sun, usually in or around sunspots, suddenly snap and cause an explosion of electromagnetic waves (light, x-rays, radiowaves etc).

The flare is happening as we see it, it takes around 8 minutes for the light to reach us (the satellites around L1 see it a few seconds before) And as the light reaches us so do all the electromagnetic waves.

X-Ray Flux is the method used to classify Flares, You will see C-class, M-class and X-class mentioned a lot and I will go into this more later on.

The flare has been and gone, As the x-rays reach this instrument: [link to www.swpc.noaa.gov] then it is hitting us, the satellite that takes the readings for X-ray flux is orbiting earth at a relatively low orbit.

It takes only a few more minutes for the slightly less-than the speed of light particles of the flare, the protons, to hit us, so as you see it appear on the chart above, that is what is hitting us right now, or will be any second, and pretty much as soon as the flare spike drops off, the event is over and the flare is gone.

View an example of a powerful flare here: [link to sohodata.nascom.nasa.gov] Image type: Eit 195, Movie, Start date 2003-10-28 End date 2003-10-28

And here is the X-ray data for that date: [link to i788.photobucket.com] Notice when the x-rays are hitting the GOES satellite (The GOES satellites orbit earth closely) see how they are arriving just as the soho imaging is picking them up.

-------Coronal Mass Ejection's, CME's-------

These are the big daddies of destruction.

Also the main cause of fear amongst those not educated in them.

To see a coronal mass ejection properly you will have to look at one of the lasco or COR cameras on soho or stereo, I advise stereo since you get all three viewpoints and can get a general grasp of it's true trajectory. also is very helpful to look for the ejection point on the sun, usually an explosion or filament launching off.

The types of CME's, You have the explosive ones, they can occur anywhere but the largest CME's are likely to occur when the magnetic field lines break in massive sunspots, filaments can also launch a CME, the CMe in this case is literally the cool filament material being launched off into space again by the magentic fields.

These are mainly made of electrons and protons, but can carry atoms of iron and helium and even oxygen with them. They carry a magnetic field, and they usually travel between 450 and 900 km/ps but can travel faster.

A fast CME can arrive very soon after it erupts, but most arrive between 36 and 84 hours after eruption.

The most graphical and realtime viewpoint of solar wind and it's effects on us is here [link to www2.nict.go.jp]

Their effects on us are explained later on.

-------Coronal Holes-------

Coronal Holes are darker, cooler places on the sun [link to spaceweather.com] .

They have a relatively weak and open magnetic field and allow particles to literally stream out from them, they are a common occurrence, and they can be compared to be a non explosive, slow releasing CME.

They carry the same particles as a CME and have very similar properties, usually less dense than a big CME.

But In comparison a moderate size coronal hole can stick around for a long time and for their lifetime they can release more particles than a moderate CME. Think of them as a flamethrower and the CME as a bullet, they affect a much wider area in space and as such we don't get hit by any where near as many particles on their passing as we would a direct shot by a moderate CME.

-------Solar Tsunami's-------

Very much like a Tsunami on earth.

Sometimes an explosion of magnetic fields just under, or at or just above the sun's surface can cause a wave like effect to be sent across the sun's surface and atmosphere, these usually travel very fast and a lot of the time cannot be picked up by the satellites.

These Tsunami's are usually accompanied by a CME and flare, the flare is basically the light from the explosion and the CME is effectively the particles accelerated by explosion itself, like the shrapnel from a grenade.

The Tsunami is the shockwave, just like an explosion here on earth, the shockwave tends to travel through things but not really accelerating them. know this executive toy: [link to www.absolutepromo.com]

Basically the shockwave travels like that and directly upwards on the sun only launches a thin thin layer of particles out, at the speed of the shockwave, these particles disperse and go about un-noticed only a few millions miles from the sun.

-------The ACE Satellite-------

The Advanced Composition Explorer "ACE" Satellite orbits the lagrangian point 1, and is around 1 million miles out from earth, It is our only early warning system for detecting solar wind and the satellite is 13 years old and has been damaged over time by cosmic rays and high energy particles so data from it can be frequently corrupted.

From the list of links in "Websites and Other Resource Links" you will know where to find the data from the ACE satellite and where it appears.

View here to learn much more about this satellite: [link to www.srl.caltech.edu]

-------The Magnetosphere-------

Our shield against solar storms.

Current science tells us that the magnetosphere is created by the constant motion and electrical properties of our spinning iron core.

The Magnetosphere covers the entire planet and it is never a true sphere due to never ending solar wind, but it is always trying to regain that shape and as such it is always pushing back against the solar wind hitting it.

-------The Interplanetary Magnetic Field, IMF-------

The Interplanetary Magnetic field is exactly what is sounds like.

This is the magnetic field carried by the solar wind which occupies the space between planets, the source of this is the source of all the solar wind in our solar system, our sun.

-------Types of Solar Wind and Their Sources-------

First we have the basic background solar wind, this emanates from the sun at all times, from active regions and non active regions. The normal background is just the high energy particles with enough velocity to escape the magnetic field of the sun on a regular basis.

Then we have the solar wind coming from Coronal Holes, the particles escaping from Coronal holes are generally more dense and have a higher velocity along with usually a stronger magnetic field.

The density of solar wind from Coronal holes is usually quite steady, as is the velocity.

Solar wind from CME's can be less intense than that of coronal holes, especially depending on how it hits us. Or it can be far stronger, CME solar wind can be the strongest solar wind of all.

CME solar wind is usually more dense than that of coronal hole wind, but coronal hole wind frequently matches the speed of CME's, The magnetic field of CME solar wind can be the strongest of all due to the much higher density levels that it can reach.

The density of solar wind from CME's can fluctuate wildly, it's velocity usually remains quite steady.

What we can see quite often is the normal background or a coronal hole solar wind be scooped up by a faster moving solar wind and can increase the density of it's leading edge causing a very short density spike when it makes contact with earth.

As the solar wind from CME's and coronal passes it slowly drops back down to background levels, this slowness is more pronounced in CME's as then tend to eject a high amount with the explosion and the explosion site tends to continue to release particles for a while as the magnetic field readjusts.

-------Geomagnetic Storms-------

When solar wind hits the magentosphere it pushes the outer edge of the magnetosphere closer to the earth and compounds the layers of magnetic lines, a tail also appears due to the way the particles travel once they hit the magnetosphere.

The solar wind is pushed outwards and deflected around our planet, it travels along magnetic field lines and as the particles pass the earth, the magnetic lines become weaker as they move further away from the earth.

These weaker lines out the back can then snap under stress and draw particles back into the earth from behind, This is how most solar wind enters our atmosphere.

Sometimes small or even large holes or weak points in the magnetosphere can allow a massive amount of particles into the earths atmosphere, the reasons for these holes appearing are not truely known yet.

-------Polarity-------

Southerly or Northerly.

Generally speaking, Southerly is worse than northerly.

A northern interplanetary magnetic field carried by the solar wind appears to decrease the overall effect of storms by effectively holding our magnetosphere in place, stopping it from being ripped apart as easily.

Whereas a southerly IMF acts to rip it apart. Think of the magnetosphere as a tennis ball and your pulling it apart to change it from a ball shape to inside out and backwards, each layer it strips away is followed by a stronger layer behind it. This is just a simple example though.

The southerly rips the front layers apart giving more magnetic field lines for the wind to travel round to the back and in turn more field lines to then subsequently break under stress and snap back inwards to the planet bringing more the solar particles into our atmosphere.

The opposite of the above for the northerly, it holds the front layers together giving the particles less magnetic field lines to travel round and break, bringing less of it to our planet.

The northerly also acts to chage the outer magnetosphere with particles, they stick to it like a fly to glue, but can dissapate reasonable quickly after the event has passed.

The southerly tends to do the opposite, because as it tears the magentic field lines at the front apart it takes a lot of particles with it.

-------Auroras-------

Auroras are caused as particles travelling along the solar wind enter our atmosphere, The particles usually enter from behind near the equator, they are still high up at this point.

They then spread east, west, north and south, before they reach the poles.

As the magnetosphere under high stress is compressed the magnetic field lines around the poles drop in latitude, this effect can be further compounded by large amounts of particles, this is why when there is a very large storm over head the auroras can be seen at a lower latitude. Of course there are competing theories for this.

As the particles then enter the ionsphere they react with nitrogen and oxygen and ionize the molecules, the molecules lose an electron or two, they can then break apart from there molecular state to a single atmoic state (e.g 02 to 0 and 0) or they are "excited"/pack full of energy.

Then as the ionized atoms/molecules collide and regain their electrons, or the excited molecules release their energy, they produce photons, which we see as the colours in the sky, exactly how they lose the energy defines the colour of aurora you will see.

"Oxygen emissions
Green or brownish-red, depending on the amount of energy absorbed.

Nitrogen emissions
Blue or red. Blue if the atom regains an electron after it has been ionized. Red if returning to ground state from an excited state. "

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

-------Storm Classifaction and Effects-------

Flares are classified by the x-ray flux [link to www.swpc.noaa.gov]

Solar wind and CME's are classified by a few things.

Most likely to see Kp and A index's being talked about.

But first read here [link to www.swpc.noaa.gov] Top table applies to CME's and general solar wind based on density/velocity/magnetic field polarity/magnetic field strength, these types of storm are generally thought to be the most damaging to us on earth, as they are the one's which interact the most with the magnetosphere.

The middle table applies to flares, CME's and general solar wind, it is the protons arriving and interacting with the magnetosphere, you must note that single protons are ions of hydrogen and as such each has +1 charge, it is this charge which causes the problem for space based equipment and can disrupt high frequency radio waves near the poles, this table is of little worry to us on earth.

The bottom table, flares and this is the main flare, the speed of light parts of it all which are arriving the moment they appear on the x-ray flux chart, again this just affects space based equipment and communications.

Back to Kp and A index.

Kp is the planetary index, based on several K indices from around the globe.

A index is the same thing, It's just based on a more decimal system of measurement.

View the conversion chart and learn more here: [link to www.ngdc.noaa.gov]

These indexs are based on the density/velocity/magnetic field polarity/magnetic field strength of solar wind.

-------The Worries About Solar Storms-------

These next few sections will describe the worries that there are for solar storms and as we move ever closer towards the solar maximum why the fears may be realised.

You must remember that these are just the worries about huge solar storms, Massive events, absolutely huge, comparable or bigger than the 1859 event.

-------Geomagnetic Storms and Power Outages-------

It's the metal, It's all the metal, its our reliance on the metal.

In simple terms a reverse electromagnet like effect can cause current to build in our electrical wires and this can build up to such levels that it can overload almost every part of the electric grid, mostly noted are the transformers.

People may say just to turn them off, But this may not work as the current built up by the storm itself may be strong enough to overload and destory the transformers without the need for them to be on.

Lights could turn on and blow up with no human based electrical input as the current is built up surges around, Giant electrical arcs may be seen jumping from wiring or giant metal structures.

Also the electricity can discharge into the ground causing lightning like effects, The energy could also Ionize particles at ground level and bring about and aurora like effect to be seen at ground level.


Comprehend what would happen if your entire country had no power for 1 day, 3 days, a week, a month, a year, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years.

Imagine the panic, the riots the fear, the food shortage, the thirst for power and the fight for it.

-------Geomagnetic Storms and Technology-------

Everything that needs circuits and motherboards and wiring to run is at risk from the high voltage and current which Geomagnetic storms can produce in the metal.

Circuits in heldheld devices like phones can be fried along with computers and well everything our modern day life is run on.

Satellites in orbit can also be fried but radiation from solar flares, or radiation from CME's arriving.

Communications can be totally obliterated for periods of time just from the radio waves from a solar flare, This is if the satellites don't go down and our basic technology for communicating isn't destroyed.

-------Solar Storms and Earthquakes-------

Some have theorized that the magnetic fluctuations of geomagnetic storms can have an influence of the frequency and magnitude of earthquakes by causing minor magnetic/physical vibrations to go deep underground, all the way to the producer of the magnetic field.

The worry is that the geomagnetic storms can set off large earthquakes.

Now you may find other theories elsewhere, but here is mine.

Now if it can set off earthquakes, A basic assumption would be that due to it be tiny fluctuations/vibrations etc, that they will only set off an earthquake just before it's time.

The way I see it this will actually lower the magnitude of the earthquakes, due to them having less time to build up energy.

This also relies assumes that the frequency of earthquakes will only have a minor rise in a solar max in comparison to a solar min, since the time that the earthquake could be set off may only be a day, a week, a month. Hardly anything in the long run.

But with my assumptions, I come to the conclusion that the highest magnitude earthquakes are more likely to appear on a deep solar minimum, as they have the peace and quiet and constant stability to grow and grow in energy ready to be released.

Yes there is more to the theory but I don't want to clog up the guide too much, the basic point of my theory is that although we may experience a slight rise in the frequency of earthquakes (mainly small) that we should be grateful that they were set off before they had time to grow even bigger, and hence solar max's and general solar storms actually keep the magnitude and overall damage from earthquakes down.

-------Past Events-------

Solar storms have been recorded throughout recent history and these are some of the events that have happened.

The 1859 carrington flare and CME [link to en.wikipedia.org]

The 1989 quebec blackout [link to www.solarstorms.org]

These are just two of the notable ones, you can find many many more here: [link to www.solarstorms.org]

-------Forecasting Solar Storms-------

There isn't much we can do to forecast a coronal mass ejection or flare right now, except to look at past sunspots and try to judge from them what each new sunspot will do, The data archives are open to all on soho and stereo.

But we may be able to get a minor grasp on forecasting geomagnetic storms from CME's and coronal holes, again it's the same as above, past records on nict, stereo and soho along with the Noaa site.

We can look at the CMEs as they lift of and judge their velocity and their density for when they arrive, but at the moment we have no way to know to polarity or magnetic strength of these storms, which in reality is the major factor as to how they will affect us.

-------Effect From Magnetic Field Fluctuations on the Human Mind/Body-------

DNA changes and activated brain, the same effect that causes the build up of electricity in wiring when a geomagnetic storm is under could in theory build up electricity otherwise known as energy in our body's and central nervous system, Although this may kill most of us outright, some people may experience their DNA being broken apart and rewritten as the energy surges throught he cells in their bodies. The electrical energy may also have an effect on the pathways of neurons in the brain, effectively increase conductivity and intelligence.

This could also be caused by a build up of high energy ions in the local atmosphere cause by electrical discharges from metal and wiring etc.

-------Gamma Ray Bursts, GRB's-------

You may hear about these a lot as well, so I've included them in the guide.

They are burst of high energy radiation usually from distant explosions of stars.

A large one can pose a direct threat to life, most just go un-noticed though, but gamma rays are pure radiation and through a process of reacting to nitrogen and oxygen to create high atmosphere nitric oxide, which destroys ozone.

Past that they can pentrate human skin and cause massive amount sof radiation to be absorbed into the human body, worries of cancers and etc.

A large enough gamma ray burst acts just like a close range nuke, and will completely obliterate the part of earth it hits, killing everything outright and causing massive damage to our atmosphere and planet.

That's the basic's of it. Our sun also produces gamma rays, but not in enough quantity to pose any real threat to life.

-------End-------

Well hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope you learned something, More maybe added at a later date.

Last Edited by OTOC on 09/02/2010 08:26 AM