When will the geomagnetic storm occur on December 5?

No geomagnetic storm occurred on December 5, 2023.

According to the National Space Weather Monitoring and Warning Center’s “Space Weather” WeChat official account, from 17:00 on December 1 to 8:00 on December 2, Beijing time, affected by the outbreak of the Sun’s Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), The Earth experienced a 3-hour geomagnetic storm with a Kp of 7, a 3-hour moderate geomagnetic storm with a Kp of 6, and a 9-hour small geomagnetic storm. The geomagnetic activity is still continuing.

The Kp index is the global magnetic field index, which reflects the earth's magnetic field activity every three hours. The larger the value, the stronger the geomagnetic activity. Affected by geomagnetic storms, aurora activities have occurred in Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and other places in my country. Even Beijing has clear aurora sighting and observation records this time.

CME, as a typical solar eruption, is driven by the strong magnetic field of sunspots, which transports hundreds of millions or even trillions of coronal matter at high speeds of hundreds to thousands of kilometers per second. It is thrown out, forming a shock wave similar to an explosion, and the shock wave is quickly transmitted to all parts of the solar system.

After being bombarded by it, the direction and size of the Earth's magnetic field changed significantly, and a geomagnetic storm occurred. With the occurrence of geomagnetic storms, auroras appear.

Impact of geomagnetic storms

1. Communication interference: Geomagnetic storms may cause interference and attenuation of radio signals, affecting the normal operation of wireless communications and satellite communication systems. This will have a certain impact on international long-distance communications, aviation, maritime communications, and satellite navigation systems.

2. Power system failure: Geomagnetic storms may induce induced currents in the power grid, causing equipment failure or damage in the power system, and even triggering large-scale power outages. In particular, power networks in high latitudes are more susceptible to geomagnetic storms.

3. Navigation system deviation: Geomagnetic storms will affect compasses and heading instruments, causing their indicated directions to deviate, causing trouble to navigation, aviation and navigation systems. This can lead to navigation errors and positioning offsets, increasing the risk of accidents and disorientation.

4. Increased risks in space activities: Geomagnetic storms will have an impact on astronauts, satellites and space vehicles, and will increase space risks, such as damaging solar panels, interfering with orbital control, etc.

5. Impact on biological systems: Some studies have shown that geomagnetic storms may have some impact on biological systems, including the impact on animal migration, navigation and positioning induced by the geomagnetic field.

Reference for the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Geomagnetic Storm