SUN SENDS SOLAR STORMS TO EARTH

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Nov. 8, 2004 — Eruptions from a large and complex sunspot group are sending a series of solar storms to Earth. The NOAA Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colo., is monitoring these storms, which have the potential to affect spacecraft operations, electric power systems, high frequency communications and electronic navigation systems. (Click image for larger view of the sun taken at 3:19 p.m. EST on Nov. 6, 2004, by the SOHO—Solar & Heliospheric Observatory—spacecraft. Click here for high resolution version, which is a large file. Please credit NASA/European Space Agency.)



A series of significant eruptions are sending huge clouds of electronically-charged particles called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, toward Earth. The first hit on Sunday.

“There’s one CME on its way, and we’re expecting another jolt to hit us,” said Ken Tegnell, a physical scientist at NOAA Space Environment Center.

Space weather forecasters expect the CME that left the sun on Saturday to arrive early on Tuesday, followed by another one expected later that day.

Tegnell said all the activity is from one region known as NOAA Region 696.

“Throughout Sunday night, the Earth’s magnetic field was enhanced at G-4 (severe),” he said, referring to the NOAA space weather scales, which rank a storm’s intensity by the effects it may have on Earth systems.