NASA’s AI system can warn of the arrival of a solar superstorm 30 minutes in advance – Photo: UNIVERSE TODAY
To detect solar superstorms, they determined a link between previous measurements of solar wind and turbulence, say researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, geomagnetic observables at ground stations around Earth.
This computer model, called DAGGER, can quickly and accurately predict geomagnetic disturbances around the world “30 minutes before they happen”.
This is long enough for countries to avoid the hurricanes’ severe impact on power grids and critical infrastructure.
NASA tested an unenhanced model with two geomagnetic storms in August 2011 and March 2015 that can “quickly and accurately” predict hurricane impacts around the world.
Solar storms are caused when the Sun emits a burst of charged plasma, in a phenomenon known as coronal mass ejection.
These charged particles create geomagnetic storms that can cause power outages and malfunction of technological equipment on Earth as they penetrate the protective magnetic field around the planet.
These storms range from mild to extreme. But its impact could become increasingly severe in a technology-dependent world.
For example, a solar storm in 1989 caused power outages in Quebec, Canada for 12 hours. This situation has left millions of people in the dark, schools and businesses closed.
Another common solar superstorm event known as the Carrington event caused fires at telegraph stations in 1859 that prevented message delivery.
Scientists warn that the risk of such a devastating solar storm is increasing as we approach the next “solar maximum”. This is the culmination of the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle.
