The alert came from forecasters at the US National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who said the Earth is about to pass through a high-speed stream of solar wind.
This phenomenon, Spaceweather.com has reported, is the result of “gaseous material flowing from a southern hole in the Sun’s atmosphere.”
Such “coronal holes” — which appear as dark areas in extreme ultraviolet and X-ray images — are regions where the Sun’s plasma is cooler and less dense than that surrounding it thanks to the star’s magnetic field extending out into space as an open field.
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According to NOAA, the geomagnetic storm that will result from Earth’s encounter with the stream of solar wind will be relatively minor — and classified only as a G1 event.
This is the smallest category in the five-point G-scale used to classify geomagnetic storms.
As a G1 storm, tomorrow’s episode has the potential to have minor impacts on satellite operations and induce weak fluctuations in the power grid.
In contrast, G5 events — the most powerful — could severely impact satellite operations, cause surges that knock out power grids and disrupt high-frequency radio communications for days on end.
Fortunately, G5 solar storms typically only occur around four times in every 11-year solar cycle.
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