2024-07-23 09:14:00
When these interplanetary shock waves reach the Earth, they can compress the magnetosphere and cause various harmful phenomena. One of them is induced electric currents, which are generated in various conductors, such as high-voltage wires, oil or gas pipes, and the like.
The new study examines archival detector data from a pipeline near the town of Mäntsälä in southern Finland and catalogs of interplanetary shock waves to look for patterns in the latter’s effects. In almost 30 years, 600 interplanetary shock waves reaching the Earth have been recorded, and their frequency correlates with the number of sunspots. The researchers used the information of 332 shock waves – they determined in which direction and at what speed they hit the Earth’s magnetosphere.
Then it turned out that shocks that hit Earth head-on—that is, when the wave comes directly from the Sun—have stronger effects both immediately and during the subsequent geomagnetic storm. The strongest effect occurred when the shock wave reached Earth at local magnetic midnight—in other words, when the Earth’s magnetic pole was exactly between the Sun and the pipeline in question.
Interplanetary impacts hit the Earth much more often than direct solar flares. Although the storms they generate are weaker, the induced currents can cause problems for electronics and, over time, for wiring or piping. Their direction can be determined at least a couple of hours before the collision.
Knowing that a strike is coming – and being able to estimate its likely impact – could send an alert to infrastructure watchdogs in the relevant regions. It would not be practical to guard against every shock across the Earth, so a more precise understanding of the effects of different shocks is very useful in practice.
True, the researchers admit that so far the analysis is very limited – for example, it is not clear how long it takes from the collision of the wave with the magnetosphere to the peak of the geomagnetic storm on the Earth’s surface. Such data could be provided by dedicated observations in at least several different locations.
Research results published by FrASS.
2024-07-23 09:14:00