Live data from Hacker News

Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

swpc.noaa.gov

31–40 of 87 posts

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#32
post #30
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For long-distance DC lines, it's a win; the system can use the power. Do you have a reference for that? They may be more resilient than AC lines, but I doubt these systems are designed to use power generated by solar events.

Fun examples have been old telegraph operators having their lines work without power connected. As for recent things I didn't even know long range DC still existed.

HVDC transmission is huge in China. Cheap hydroelectric capacity is in the northwestern part of the country, and the big loads are near the east coast. So there are thousand-mile million-volt DC transmission links.

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#33
This guys [1] apparently predicted the Mexican quake last night. He has an interesting theory regarding connection between Solar activity and earthquakes. Let's hope he's a crank as he's predicting more events for the weekend.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/user/dutchsinse

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#34

Meaning of G4: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation "Power systems: Possible widespread voltage control problems and some protective systems will mistakenly trip out key assets from the grid. Spacecraft operations: May experience surface charging and tracking problems, corrections may be needed for orientation problems. Other systems: Induced pipeline currents affect preventive measures, HF radio propagat…

what "these" do we have 100 of? X class flares, or X class flares facing the Earth? Because just by chance we are usually out of harm's way.

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#35

Meaning of G4: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation "Power systems: Possible widespread voltage control problems and some protective systems will mistakenly trip out key assets from the grid. Spacecraft operations: May experience surface charging and tracking problems, corrections may be needed for orientation problems. Other systems: Induced pipeline currents affect preventive measures, HF radio propagat…

what "these" do we have 100 of? X class flares, or X class flares facing the Earth? Because just by chance we are usually out of harm's way.

Having subscribed to NOAA's alerts a couple years ago, I would say we might get an event like this once a year or two

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#36
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How common are long-distance DC lines and what are they used for? My understanding is that the vast majority of power infrastructure is AC, and long distances are using High Voltage AC lines

For undersea connections, the water around it means the line has a lot higher capacitance. An AC link has to load/unload that capacity all the time and looses energy to it, a DC link doesn't. Similar effects happen with normal power lines as well, so it also has benefits on long-distance connections on land. Since you need conversion equipment on all ends, it's typically used only for point-to-point links, not for li…

From that wiki link "Xinjiang - Anhui (China)" line is 1100kV, 10GW power! That's impressive.

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#37

Meaning of G4: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation "Power systems: Possible widespread voltage control problems and some protective systems will mistakenly trip out key assets from the grid. Spacecraft operations: May experience surface charging and tracking problems, corrections may be needed for orientation problems. Other systems: Induced pipeline currents affect preventive measures, HF radio propagat…

Apparently there are 100 of these per 11-year solar cycle.

Seems that there are much more than 100 flares each cycle: https://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/hessidata/dbase/hessi_flare_l...

It also seems that flares above X2.2 are quite rare. There have been only 10 of those since 2008: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle_24#Events

The latest flare, measured at X9.3 is VERY rare: https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/solar-activity/top-50-so...

I wouldn't downplay this

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#38
post #27

Does anyone have any thoughts on any relationships between the recent solar flares and magnetic storms and the hurricanes and Mexican earthquake? Is this coincidence or does major space weather events result in major earth weather? https://www.space.com/38057-sun-unleashes-decades-strongest-...

http://quakewatch.net/ attempts to predict earthquakes using solar factors (and things like outgoing longwave radiation). https://twitter.com/thereals0s has some snaps of their alert maps leading up to the quake (this one happened to be in their alert zone). Edit- Also related-site http://spaceweathernews.com/ has a lot of pretty graphs to look at if you're interested in this stuff

thanks!

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#39

Does anyone have any thoughts on any relationships between the recent solar flares and magnetic storms and the hurricanes and Mexican earthquake? Is this coincidence or does major space weather events result in major earth weather? https://www.space.com/38057-sun-unleashes-decades-strongest-...

There's also the eclipse preceding these events. Of course there are relationships, I just don't think most of us (scientists or scientifically inclined) know how to see them, since some of the links are not in the 'rational' space. Shamans still have better answers than scientists to these kinds of questions, but I don't think that most people want to hear the answers. Either way something extraordinary is taking pl…

Claiming you have an answer is not preferable to admitting you just don't know.

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#40
post #31

Looks like they're predicting larger than usual aurora effects as a result: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast Still not getting too far into the lower 48 states, but looks like there should be good visibility throughout Canada and northern UK.

There was a period last night that there was a maybe small chance it was viewable in WA/OR but naturally it was cloudy. So much for that.
Post reply on HN