The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) has issued a warning about a severe geomagnetic storm following the detection of three coronal mass ejections (CMEs) earlier this week, as well as strong solar storms.
On May 10 (local time), SANSA warned of extreme space weather expected over the next three days, as a G4-class solar storm is set to impact Earth, potentially affecting critical power grids and causing widespread voltage control issues.
Image of the solar storm. (Source: SANSA).
According to a reporter in Pretoria, SANSA issued this geomagnetic storm warning after detecting three coronal mass ejections (CMEs) earlier this week, along with strong solar storms.
Shockwaves from the CMEs are expected to merge before colliding with Earth.
Previously, on May 9, the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center also issued a G4 geomagnetic storm warning. This marks the first G4 geomagnetic storm warning since January 2005, which is the second-highest level on a five-level scale.
Coronal mass ejections refer to massive plasma eruptions occasionally released from the Sun, which can send charged particles, known as solar wind, toward Earth.
Five material ejections from the Sun’s atmosphere are forecasted to occur, starting late on May 10 and continuing until May 12.
The “culprit” of this phenomenon is a sunspot group visible on the right side of the Sun’s disk, which is 16 times larger than Earth.
Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on the Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, power grids, navigation, radio operations, and satellites.
The last time Earth was affected by a G5 storm—the highest level on the scale—was in October 2003. At that time, the storm caused many transformers to fail in South Africa and resulted in power outages in Sweden.
The actual strength of the storm will be known approximately 60-90 minutes before it reaches Earth, thanks to satellites that measure directional energy bursts.
