Geomagnetic storm hits Earth after powerful eruption from Sun, check impact

A powerful eruption that took place on the Sun’s surface back on January 30 resulted in a geomagnetic storm hitting Earth between Wednesday (February 2) and today. An eruption from a massive sunspot called AR2936 had released a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), an M1-class solar flare, towards our planet. M-class flares are medium-sized; they can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth's polar regions.

After a four-hour flare from the sun, NASA’s Space Weather Prediction Centre had alerted on the possibility of a geomagnetic storm, chances of radio blackout and solar radiation storm. As per Spaceweatherlive.com, a G1-Minor geomagnetic storm hit Earth, reaching threshold at 08:50 UTC.

G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storming was reached at 3/0846 UTC. pic.twitter.com/xIR5GiGR1l

— NOAA Space Weather (@NWSSWPC) February 3, 2022

As per the SWPC, the impact of the G1 geomagnetic storm could cause weak power grid fluctuations, minor impact on satellite operations and could affect migratory animals at higher levels. Aurora is commonly visible at high latitudes during this time. The centre also predicts 25% chance of an R1-R2 (Minor) and 10% chance of an R3-R5 (Major) radio blackout. An S1 or greater Solar Radiation Storm is predicted at 10% chance.

A geomagnetic storm is caused when the Earth’s magnetosphere is disturbed when there is interaction between the space environment surrounding the planet and solar wind. The largest storms resulting from such conditions are linked to solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs), as per SWPC.