(ANSA) – ROME, OCTOBER 10 – A strong geomagnetic storm is arriving between 10 and 11 October: according to the Space Weather Prediction Center of the US agency NOAA, the storm could reach class G4, the second most intense on a scale ranging from G1 to G5. This means there could be power grid problems, damage to Earth-orbiting satellites, radio blackouts and disruptions to satellite navigation systems, as well as auroras visible at much lower latitudes than usual. “The presence of the auroras is never a given – Mauro Messerotti, professor of space meteorology at the University of Trieste, told ANSA – but in this case there is a good chance”.
The origin of the geomagnetic storm that is about to hit the Earth is found in the sunspot AR 3848, which on Tuesday 8 October produced a strong X-class 1.8 solar flare: class triggered radio blackouts in the areas of our planet at that time facing the Sun. The flare was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection, the so-called Cme, i.e. an expulsion of matter in the form of plasma, which is now heading towards the Earth at a speed between 4.3 and 4.7 million kilometers per hour.
“Among other things, the following day another Cme was also issued which could soon reach Earth – says Messerotti – but the situation is still to be evaluated”. There is also uncertainty around the exact moment of arrival of the current geomagnetic storm: more accurate information will, obviously, be possible as the hours pass, but forecasts indicate the late day of October 10th as more likely, with the related effects that should persist until the next one. (HANDLE).