The solar storm is headed toward Earth and could reach its peak Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. The event could disrupt some radio communications and affect positioning satellites and electrical networks, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Spain’s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities reported today.
An intense solar flare was observed on Tuesday, peaking at around 11:04 Spanish Peninsula time, the ESA agency reported. Less than an hour later, a coronal mass ejection was detected, with an initial velocity estimated at about 1,500 kilometers per second, and its arrival on Earth is expected to occur Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, although these estimates include some uncertainty.
The effects of the resulting geomagnetic storm are estimated to be “severe” and could affect satellites, power grids and navigation systems in parts of the Earth exposed at the time of the storm’s arrival, namely Europe, Africa and Asia. ESA said in a statement that the event did not represent a direct biological risk to people on Earth.
“Our planet was affected last night by two consecutive coronal mass ejections that caused strong geomagnetic disturbances. The third one is expected to arrive later today or tomorrow. The impact of this third CME depends largely on whether it merges with the first two,” ESA Space Meteorology Director Juha-Pekka Runtama explained in a statement.
“The geomagnetic storm is estimated to continue at a severe level, potentially impacting satellites, power grids, and navigation systems. More CMEs have been observed being ejected from the Sun, and heavy space activity is expected to continue later this week.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science detailed that last Tuesday’s flare was a class X5.1, “one of the most powerful in recent years.” This joins two other CMEs that occurred on November 7th and 9th and reached Earth on the 11th.
The immediate effect is a temporary outage of high-frequency radio communications in bright areas of the planet. This is due to intense solar radiation, and interruptions have been detected in Africa, for example.
In addition, the flare released a shower of high-energy solar particles, creating a radiation storm that continues to this day. These particles pose no direct biological risk on Earth’s surface, but could affect satellites and electronic systems in space, the ministry said.
“Spain is not among the countries most directly affected by this extreme space weather. Our location in mid-latitudes, far from the polar regions, significantly reduces the intensity of the expected impacts on the national territory. As a result, no damage or significant interruptions related to Spain’s critical infrastructure are expected as a result of these geomagnetic storms,” the organization elaborates.
Generally speaking, the Ministry assures us that the impact in Spain will be minor. “Satellite navigation systems may experience certain interference, and applications based on GPS or GNSS may experience a slight decrease in accuracy. There may also be very limited changes to shortwave or high frequency radio communications. However, regular mobile phone, Internet, or FM radio networks should not experience any noticeable effects.”
No relevant impacts are expected for satellites controlled by Spain or providing essential services to Spain, such as communications, meteorology or earth observation. In some cases, automatic security protocols may be activated or temporary errors may be detected without materially impacting service continuity.
Spain, in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA) and through the Spanish Space Agency (ESA), is closely monitoring the development of this storm in order to prevent potentially dangerous situations and adverse effects.
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