New research by means of data from NASA's Van Allen Probes power helps decipher decades of carefully worked-out unpredictability over the ransack of ultra-relativistic electrons in Earth's go out of business space setting, and is accepted to continue our power of planetary magnetospheres just about the universe. Objective the processes that control the formation and concluding price of such relativistic electrons is a set up science target of the Van Allen Probes and has outdo acceptable applications, when of the deafening amounts of radiation at a complete loss in the house the two Van Allen radiation belts. The belts, consisting of high-energy electrons and protons naked disdainful Earth's pompous ghost in 1958 by James Van Allen, can standpoint a attraction hazard to satellites and spacecraft, as well to astronauts acting out deeds outer walls a spacecraft.
Such electrons in the Earth's farther than radiation blow can grasp horrendous increases in intensity, in rush back to activity on the sun, and changes in the solar wind - but the superseding concrete mechanisms blameworthy for such radiation blow electron hurriedness has remained open for decades.
Two set up candidates for electron hurriedness exist, one outer and one innermost. From outer walls the belts, a speculative measures familiar as new radial diffusive supply has been seasoned. From in the house the belts, scientists imagine that the electrons are undergoing strong residence hurriedness from very low predominance plasma emission. Controversies equally exist as to the very mode of the swell up acceleration: Is it stochastic - that is, a linear and diffusive measures - or is it non-linear and coherent?
In research published Dec. 19, 2013, in Aspect, reign novelist Richard Thorne and contemporaries report on high-resolution dimensions, ready by the Van Allen Probes, which chew on that residence hurriedness is at work. The company observed high-energy electrons in the course of a geomagnetic make your way through of Oct. 9, 2012, which they analyzed coupled then a data-driven total swell up model. Their examination reveals that linear, stochastic dissemination by vigorous, routine very low-frequency radio emission -- familiar as chorale emission -- in Earth's pompous ghost can ingress for the observed relativistic electron build-up.
"The successful point-by-point matching of radiation blow appearance observed by the Van Allen Probes then the predictions of the state of the art model seasoned by Richard Thorne and his group dramatically demonstrates the contemplation of in situ sprinkle hurriedness in the house Earth's radiation belts," assumed David Sibeck, power scientist for the Van Allen Probes at NASA's Goddard Detach Get away Interior in Greenbelt, Md.
The follow up modeling reported in Aspect, coupled then past explanation reported above this appointment in the the latest Science [wedge to article] of peaks in electron period space density by Gf Reeves at Los Alamos Interior Laboratory in New Mexico and contemporaries, demonstrates the good-looking neatness of routine swell up hurriedness in Earth's go out of business space setting. Their research shows that radial dispersion was not blameworthy for the observed hurriedness in the course of this make your way through, assumed Thorne, a scientist at the Scholarly of California at Los Angeles.
The residence swell up hurriedness measures is a familiar concrete measures and necessity equally be sharp in the magnetospheres of Jupiter, Saturn and other magnetized plasma environments in the making, Thorne assumed. He thinks the new fight from the follow up examination at Dirt order continue wished-for modeling of other planetary magnetospheres.
"This new finding is of greatest usefulness to unlocking the multitude of processes drink sprinkle individuality in the belts," says Barry Mauk, project scientist for the Van Allen Probes at the Johns Hopkins Workable Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. "To lunch one of the set up science objectives of the power met in the house no more than over a appointment of get to it is a shrine to the quality and quantity of the data the instruments on the probes are collection, and to the teams analyzing them."
The research was funded by NASA, which launched the twin Van Allen Probes in the summer of 2012. The Johns Hopkins Workable Physics Laboratory built and operates the probes for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Van Allen Probes are the flare power in NASA's Breathing As well as a Acclaim program, managed by NASA Goddard. The program explores aspects of the united sun-Earth system that sincere gain life and pressure group.
Credit: NASA
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Solar Warning light Airstream HIT Sett BY JUNE 10, Possibly will Disjoint Grasp GRIDS, SATELLITES AND Origin Shake
UFOBLOGGER
A chief solar zip in being erupted from the Sun on yet to be Tuesday, which is entitlement towards Sett and may well unsettle ambition grids, satellites and may well cause huge massive win. The zip was a an assortment of construct as it started out late, hence the sun wretched it off so a volcanic draft.
A sunspot tangled on the solar transient became morose and erupted, momentous in an M2-class solar zip, a, S1-class radiation arraignment and a dramatic coronal row kicking out (CME). The radiation arraignment has a slight authority on the high occurrence radio in the Glacial Regions.
The Sun on Tuesday unleashed a fire of radiation that created a significant cloud that seemed to cover in the neighborhood lacking of the transient of the celeb, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory assumed.
The parallel of the fire of radiation, which advantage at particular 2:41 a. m. EDT, was not witnessed in the past 2006.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which was launched in 2010, captured the gadget in high-definition and described it as "visually dramatic."
Solar astrophysicist C. Alex Teen, of NASA's Goddard Interval Break Fixation, assumed, "The sun created a moderately dramatic popularity draft that had a solar zip and high-energy particles joined amid it, but I've just so never seen certain released so this or else."
The temperatures of the radiance of the Sun universally swell between 900,000 degrees F and 10.8 million degrees F. The high temperature can tone with tens of millions of degrees some time ago a solar zip erupts.
The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) atmosphere genuine be noticeable in the late hours of June 8.
The Geophysical Fire up of the Assistant professor of Alaska Fairbanks job auroral activity to be high tonight, amid fount harsh auroral displays noticeable overhead from Barrow to Bethel, Dillingham and Ketchikan, and noticeable low on the horizon from Sovereign Salmon.
In the manner of the sun descriptive most of the auroral zone in Russia and Scandinavia, the aurora atmosphere be mainly noticeable in North America, according to the Fire up. On the northern horizon on a line from Portland Oregon, southern Nebraska, southern Indiana, to Washington, D.C.
Detectable auroral arrangements are predicted for Thursday and Friday as well, overhead from Inuvik, Yellowknife, Rankin, Igaluit and the surrounding areas. The visibility may be low on the horizon from Seattle, Des Moines, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, and Halifax on Thursday, and Prince Rupert, Calgary, Minot, Bemidji, Stevens Weight, Be carried City and Quebec City, Canada on Friday.
Eventual rendezvous British Defence secretary Liam Fox attend a crest of scientists and give your word advisers, who consider the broadcasting that underpins modern life in Western economies is potentially touchy to electromagnetic anxiety after studying NASA report on Sun solar arraignment which is carried out for NASA by the US Federation Institution of higher education of Sciences had afterward warned about opportunity solar Airstream in rendezvous 2011-2012 too. explain it all
Solar Warning light Airstream HIT Sett BY JUNE 10, Possibly will Disjoint Grasp GRIDS, SATELLITES AND Origin Shake
Solar Airstream AND EARTHQUAKE:
Past this rendezvous we had gloriously predicted the massive win due to "Solar Warning light" About. In past too we had afterward reported how Spacequake caused Northern light And 6.4 massive win On August 4, 2010.
As NASA website quote "A spacequake is a temblor in Earth's mesmerizing pasture. It is felt most unreservedly in Sett turn, but is not special to space. The stuff can tone with all the way down to the transient of Sett itself.
"Magnetic reverberations restrain been detected at ground stations all particular the orb, outlying so seismic detectors track a significant massive win," says THEMIS dominant investigator Vassilis Angelopoulos of UCLA." explain it all Source: ufoblogger.com
JUNE 08, 2013 - SPACE - Severe space weather could be as devastating to the planet as serious tornadoes and other natural disasters, NASA chief Charles Bolden said in a public address Tuesday (June 4).
SPACE WEATHER ON PAR WITH TORNADO THREAT, NASA CHIEF SAYS.
A huge X1.2-class solar flare erupted from the sun late Tuesday (May 14, 2013), the fourth major flare in two days from a busy sunspot on the surface of the sun. NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory captured this view of the event.
Bolden spoke before scientists and industry members at the Space Weather Enterprise Forum, which was held at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Auditorium and Science Center in Silver Spring, Md. The daylong conference aimed to bring together researchers and policymakers to identify how the sun's activity impacts Earth, and the potentially harmful effects of space weather.
"This conference shines a spotlight on another naturally occurring phenomenon that can be just as punishing as a tornado - space weather," Bolden said in his written remarks for the event, after mentioning his grief at the lives lost during the deadly outbreak of tornadoes in the Midwest in recent weeks.
Strong solar storms can damage satellites in space and, if aimed at Earth, can interfere with communications infrastructure and power grids on the ground. Conference attendees discussed potential vulnerabilities in existing infrastructure, and how they can be made more robust. Space weather researchers also highlighted ongoing mitigation efforts, including improvements in technology and modeling that may help predict future storms.
Developing a clearer picture of when these storms may strike, and their potential impacts, is crucial, Bolden said. "Given the growing importance of space to our nation's economic well being and security, it is of increasing importance that NASA and its partner agencies continue to advance our nation's capability to understand and predict space weather events," he explained.
The radiation released by severe sun storms can also be risky for astronauts living aboard the International Space Station. Understanding the way humans in space are affected by space weather will help NASA plan future manned missions to the moon, Mars or beyond, Bolden said.
Last week, a new study found that astronauts on a mission to Mars could be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation from both solar particles and cosmic rays from outside the solar system, even with shielding on the spacecraft. The research, which was published in the journal Science, determined that on a trip to Mars, spaceflyers would be subject to radiation doses between 100 and 1,000 times higher than on Earth.
"The findings will aid design of future human missions by reducing uncertainty about how much shielding from radiation astronauts need," Bolden said. "For these and other reasons this forum and our efforts to study, monitor, and mitigate radiation exposure are so very important."
The NASA administrator also spoke about the need for international cooperation in studying the effects of space weather. "Space weather is a problem that crosses all borders and demands input from our international counterparts," Bolden said.
Next week, Bolden is scheduled to speak at the 56th session of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna, Austria. This year, for the first time, the UN committee has added space weather as a topic for discussion, recognizing it to be as serious a threat as space junk and near-Earth asteroids, Bolden said.
"With the United Nations now on our team, we are assured of even greater global coordination in the effort to increase our understanding of space weather and its impact on Earth and throughout the solar system," he added. "We have shown how, working as a team, we can save lives when hurricanes and tornadoes strike here on Earth. I am confident we can be just as effective working together to protect our people, our critical infrastructures, and our planet from the dangers of space weather." - WUNDERGROUND.
SUPER SOLAR STORM COULD LEAVE WESTERN NATIONS WITHOUT POWER 'FOR MONTHS' - REPORT.
Image from http://www.nasa.gov
A power outage could leave Western nations without electricity for months in the event of a strong geomagnetic storm, a new report claims, adding that it is "almost inevitable in the future" while the sun is approaching the peak of its solar cycle.
It is a known fact that solar activity is interconnected with the our planet's geomagnetic fields that are known to affect life on Earth, including widespread electrical disruptions. Currently the Sun's activity is ramping up toward what is known as solar maximum as the peak of the 11-year solar cycle is expected in 2015.
According to the report, produced by Lloyd's in cooperation with Atmospheric and Environmental research (AER), super solar storms normally occur approximately every 150 years, the last being the Carrington Event in 1859 - a geomagnetic storm that caused disruptions in telegraph lines all over the world and the brightest auroras. However that was long before people were so dependent on electricity.
The report outlines a doomsday scenario - the cancellation of the services the public has come to depend upon every day. For example, the systems for controlling air-traffic would stop, potentially grounding entire fleets. The satellites that power the world's telecoms networks would be knocked out. Hospital patients dependent on electrical equipment would be put at risk.
Aurora. Reuters / Lehtikuva / Pekka Sakki
This could lead to liability claims if customers believe companies did not take enough protective measures during a blackout, which would have significant implications for the insurance industry.
All this can occur as a result of strong geomagnetic storms - severe disturbances in the upper layers of our atmosphere caused by solar storms. The geomagnetic storms induce currents in long conductors such as power lines. These additional currents can trigger voltage collapse or damage extra-high voltage transformers. The economic costs would be catastrophic, according to the report.
The total cost of such a scenario today in Europe and North America is estimated at 2.6 trillion for a five-month blackout period, though it could be as low as 0.6 trillion, the Telegraph reports.
In 1859 a solar superstorm, the so-called Carrington Event, hit Earth's magnetosphere and induced the largest observed geomagnetic solar storm, causing bright auroras that were seen around the world. People who happened to be awake in northeastern US could reportedly read a newspaper by the aurora's light. During the storm telegraph wires in North America and Europe were reportedly destroyed, giving operators electric shocks and knocking out the telegraph network as far away as Australia and Asia for two days. That was before modern methods were used to calculate the force of the solar storms.
In March 1989, the strongest measured geomagnetic storm caused the collapse of Hydro-Qu'ebec's electricity transmission system in Canada. More than six million people lost electric power for nine hours. That cost the government 12.7 billion.
Historical auroral records suggest a return period of 50 years for storms like the one in Quebec and about 150 years for extreme storms such as the Carrington Event. The researchers mapped potential effects on the US territory of an extreme solar storm much alike the Carrington Event in the report.
Image from www.lloyds.com
Geomagnetic latitude, ground conductivity and distance from the coast's highly conducive seawater can measure the region's susceptibility to geomagnetic storms. For example such populated regions as New York and Washington DC strongly attract the sun's electric energy. Other regions include the US Midwest and the Gulf Coast states.
According to the data in the report the total US population at risk of extended power outage from a Carrington-level storm is between 20-40 million, with durations of sixteen days to one or two years.
"The duration of outages will depend largely on the availability of spare replacement transformers. If new transformers need to be ordered, the lead-time is likely to be a minimum of five months," it says.
"They are very limited in terms of numbers of replacements and manufacturing new transformers takes quite a long period of time, up to almost two years said Neil Smith, Research Manager at Lloyd's of London as quoted by the Telegraph. "These are huge pieces of equipment. Building and transporting it is a huge job" he added."This could take weeks, even years, in the event of a really big storm."
There are currently four satellites that can warn Earth of the coming CME and allow grid operators to prepare and take preventative measures before the storm, though the report adds that the force of the storm can only be measured in 15-30 minutes before it hits. The satellites are also past their mission lives and need replacement.
However the cost of prevention is reportedly much smaller than the price of damage caused by a single storm. For example, after the Quebec power outage the Canadian government has taken preventative measures by investing 1.2 billion into protecting the Quebec grid infrastructure, potentially saving billions of dollars if the incident should occur again. - RT.
Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope The latest LASCO C3 images
Solar Wind Stream to reach Earth around February 10, 2010
Text from similar event in 2009 via Doom Daily Newspaper.
A solar wind stream [watch animation above for coronal mass ejections occurring on the 1st and 7th] flowing from a coronal hole should reach Earth on or about February 10th.
The solar wind is a stream of electrically charged particles blown constantly from the Sun. The magnetosphere is a cavity formed when the solar wind encounters the Earth's magnetic field. When the solar wind density is high and comes up against the magnetosphere, the magnetosphere gets compressed. When the wind density is low, the magnetosphere expands. Researchers discovered that the solar wind contains periodic structures of high and low density, driving a periodic "breathing" action of the magnetosphere and the global generation of magnetic waves.
It's known that if the frequency of these waves matches the frequency of the electrons in their motion in the Van Allen belt, the electrons can be accelerated, significantly boosting their energies. The process is similar to a boogyboarder catching a wave. Some electrons "ride the wave" and gain so much energy that they can then damage expensive spacecraft, satellites and ground base electronics if severe enough.
From time to time, actually around once every month, there is a strange increase in the radiation levels, a sudden spike that creates extremely strong streams of electrons that produce damage to electrical girds and appliances on Earth and can affect the DNA of an unfortunate astronaut caught outside the shuttle or the space station.
Van Allen radiation belts around the Earth. Source: San Jose State University.
This can affect satellites, can disturb GPS systems and can induce unexpected currents in the electrical grid. What causes this strange acceleration? The most recent quest for the solution of this old puzzle was taken by a team of scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico that has examined data collected over the past few years from the laboratory's instruments mounted on five different satellites in geosynchronous orbit at various altitudes.
Recorded instances of the effects of solar winds on earth are the displacement of the magnetic pole between 900 and 1500 B.C. from its original position near Murmansk in Russia to its present position near Canada. This displacement is attributed to the Aurorae. In 1989 geomagnetic storms caused the destruction of the Hydro Quebec grid and many Canadians had to go without power for nine hours. The same storm affected the microchips in computers and caused the disruption of the Stock market in Canada. In 1998, the backup files of the heavily used communication satellite Galaxy were destroyed by a geomagnetic storm in outer space caused by solar winds, consequently halting the service to of 45 million pagers.
They found the phenomenon is caused by an unknown acceleration process inside the Van Allen belts. The interesting part of the study is the fact that it shows how the Sun is not the only one responsible for the sudden increase in radiation hitting Earth, although many times it coincides with the incidence of solar storms.
You can see the live imagery below: You will notice increases in Wind Speeds. As they increase you will know it has arrived.
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UPDATE: BIG SUNSPOT: The sudden emergence of big sunspot 1045 over the weekend has caused a sharp uptick in solar activity. The active region has produced three M-class and almost a dozen C-class solar flares since it appeared on Saturday. The strongest blast, an M6-class eruption on Feb. 7th, may have hurled a coronal mass ejection toward Earth. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras in the nights ahead as a result of this activity. Also, ham radio operators are picking up strong solar radio bursts using shortwave receivers. Sample sounds and images may be found at http://spaceweather.com.
SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Would you like a call when the next geomagnetic storm erupts? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE: http://spaceweatherphone.com.
New subscribers may sign up for free space weather alerts at http://spaceweather.com/services/.
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"Death comes to all, but great achievements build a monument which shall endure until the sun grows cold." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Auroras are the most visible manifestation of the sun's effect on Earth, but many aspects of these spectacular displays are still poorly understood. Thanks to the joint European Space Agency and NASA's Cluster mission combined with data from a past NASA mission called the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration, or IMAGE, a particular type of very high-latitude aurora has now been explained.
The ESA/NASA Cluster and NASA's IMAGE missions were in a position around Earth on Sep. 15, 2005, to determine how solar material in the magnetic environment in near-Earth space creates a special kind of high-latitude aurora called a theta aurora.
Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO/LASCO/EIT
Known as a theta aurora -- because seen from above it looks like the Greek letter theta, an oval with a line crossing through the center -- this type of aurora sometimes occurs closer to the poles than normal aurora. While the genesis of the auroral oval emissions is reasonably well understood, the origin of the theta aurora was unclear until now. A paper in the Dec. 19, 2014, issue of Science shows that hot plasma funneled into near-Earth space from the sun helps cause these unique aurora.
"The possibilities have been debated since the first satellite observations of the phenomenon were made in the 1980s," said Robert Fear of the University of Southampton in the U.K. (formerly at the University of Leicester), and lead author of the Science paper.
Although separated by some 93 million miles, the sun and Earth are connected by what's known as the solar wind. This plasma - electrically charged atomic particles - streams from the sun and travels across the solar system, carrying its own magnetic field along for the ride.
Depending on how this interplanetary magnetic field is aligned in relationship to Earth's magnetic field, there can be various results when the solar wind arrives at near-Earths space. At the point where the two fields meet, Earth's magnetic field points north. If the interplanetary field points in the opposite direction -- south -- then something called magnetic reconnection occurs, causing magnetic field lines pointing in opposite directions to suddenly realign into a new configuration.
The realignment opens the door so that solar wind material can funnel into the magnetosphere - the giant magnetic bubble surrounding Earth. This is what leads to the aurora, which is produced when the particles funnel down along Earth's magnetic field lines and strike atoms high in the atmosphere. The interaction with oxygen atoms results in a green or, more rarely, red glow in the night sky, while nitrogen atoms yield blue and purple colors. Normally, the main region for this impressive display is the auroral oval, which lies at around 65-70 degrees north or south of the equator, encircling the polar caps.
But when the interplanetary magnetic field points northward, auroras can occur at even higher latitudes, sometimes resulting in theta aurora. Prior to the recent work, scientists suspected that theta aurora had something to do with the particles observed in the lobe regions of the magnetosphere. The plasma in the lobes is normally cold, but previous observations suggested that theta auroras are linked with unusually hot lobe plasma - but just how was unclear.
"It was unclear whether this hot plasma was a result of direct solar wind entry through the lobes of the magnetosphere," said Fear. "Or if the plasma is somehow related to the plasma sheet on the night side of Earth. One idea is that the process of magnetic reconnection on the night side of Earth causes a build-up of trapped, hot plasma in the higher latitude lobes."
The mystery was finally solved by studying data collected simultaneously by the Cluster and IMAGE spacecraft on Sept. 15, 2005. While the four Cluster satellites were located in the southern hemisphere magnetic lobe, IMAGE had a wide-field view of the southern hemisphere aurora. As one Cluster satellite observed uncharacteristically energetic plasma in the lobe, IMAGE saw the arc of the theta aurora cross the magnetic footprint of Cluster.
The team found that the energetic plasma appeared on high-latitude magnetic field lines that had been closed by the process of magnetic reconnection driven by the northward pointed fields. This in turn caused the plasma to become relatively hot. Such observations support the idea that theta aurora are due to plasma trapped inside the magnetosphere, rather than material being directly pushed in from the solar wind.
"Solving the question of the origin of the theta aurora required Cluster's high inclination orbit that sweeps over the region where the aurora are generated together with the imaging capability of IMAGE, which is no longer functioning," said Melvyn Goldstein, Cluster project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Hopefully, future missions will give comparable capabilities to view the polar regions of the magnetosphere."
Cluster consists of four satellites flying in formation around Earth. The data presented in this report were collected by Cluster-1. The Cluster mission was launched in 2000 and is still operating. IMAGE was launched in 2000 and concluded operations at the end of 2005. The data presented in this report were collected by the satellite's far-ultraviolet Wideband Imaging Camera.
Contacts and sources:
European Space Agency and Karen C. Fox
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
