A magnetic storm is ... A description of the phenomenon, its causes and danger

The article describes what a magnetic storm is, as a result of what cosmic activity it arises and what can be dangerous for people.

Space

We are surrounded by an endless empty space, whereClusters of planets or stars are sometimes found. And the latter, incidentally, since ancient times, attracted human attention to themselves and even helped, as it was with the North Star or the Milky Way, which guided traders salt.

And people almost every day see what weowe their lives. This is the Sun. Had it been a little brighter, more, or our planet would have been outside the conditioned habitat belt, perhaps life on Earth would never have arisen. In addition to heating the Earth, the Sun can conceal danger in itself. And it's not the heat and not sunburn, but the real storms. A magnetic storm is a phenomenon that occurs as a result of solar activity. It generates such a phenomenon as space weather. But first things first. So what is it and how can such storms be dangerous for people and technology?

sunny wind

If we use scientific classification, thena magnetic storm is a disturbance of the geomagnetic field of the Earth, which lasts from several hours to several days. Such phenomena occur as a result of solar activity, when the solar wind interacts with the geomagnetic field of our planet. And as a result of the manifestation and strengthening of ring currents, which are constantly present in the radiation belts of the planet, certain phenomena occur on the surface that affect both electronic devices and the physical well-being of people. So the magnetic storm is a phenomenon that, albeit imperceptibly externally, has an impact on the world around us.

To put it more simply, to certainmoments the activity of the nuclear reaction to the sun increases, there are plasma emissions that reach the Earth, where its magnetic field and ring currents are amplified.

Intensity

Scientists have long noticed that similarcosmic phenomena occur with varying intensity. It depends on the 11-year cycle of solar activity. So, if the average number of storms per year is about 30, then during the maximum activity of our luminary, their number increases to 50. As it became clear, they are quite frequent, so it can not be said that every magnetic storm is something supernatural and creepy dangerous. According to scientists, with an average life expectancy of 75 years, 15 of them a man spends precisely in times of similar solar activity.

If we talk about the perturbation of the magnetic field near the surface of our planet, then during storms it increases insignificantly, only 1% of the constant rate.

Danger

A truly dangerous phenomenon of this kindoccur very rarely, about once every 500 years. And in ancient times they passed almost without a trace, since then there was no thin and ordinary electronics on which all this could be reflected. The last such event happened in 1859 and was called the "Solar superstorm". The ejection of coronary mass was so great and strong that it reached the Earth in just 18 hours, although usually it takes several days. This day of magnetic storm went down in history as the largest geomagnetic phenomenon. At that time, most of the developed countries had already actively used the telegraph, and as a result of the storm all the stations were out of order, and throughout the world one could observe the northern lights.

In 1921 and 1960 there were similar cases, but the storms then had much less force, and worldwide there were strong interference or failure of radio communications.

This can happen in our time, whenelectronics are used everywhere, especially one that does not like strong magnetic disturbances and uses wireless communication. And if the space storm is particularly strong, then it is likely that most electronics will fail.

Schedule of magnetic storms

With the development of the near space of the Earthand the launching into orbit of satellites with telescopes it became possible to predict similar phenomena. Basically, they are divided into 7-day, 2-day, and 1-hour forecasts. The accuracy of the first two is 30% and 50%, and the last - 95%. Many news and weather agencies on the Internet provide such information for meteosensitive people.

Influence on us

Magnetic storms really affectpeople's health. Back in 1928 Academician Chizhevsky drew attention to the fact that during periods of such activity a person has some symptoms that are expressed in general malaise, headache, increase or decrease of blood pressure, worsening mood and so on. By the way, some people can react to storms several days before they start, in fact, predicting the moments of ejection of coronary mass from the surface of the sun. But fortunately, such phenomena do not by themselves lead to death.