Geomagnetic summary March 2016

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Carbon60
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Geomagnetic summary March 2016

Post by Carbon60 »

Early March saw one of the strongest geomagnetic storms of this solar cycle with a planetary index (Kp) of 7, meaning that the magnetic field on Earth was significantly disturbed during the event which was caused by a combination of fast flowing solar wind (500km/s) and a southward oriented interplanetary magnetic field (Bz). The magnitude of the storm was such that aurora were observed at significantly lower latitudes than usual over northern Europe and the USA and, in the south, over New Zealand.

The event was captured on my magnetometer as a series of pulsating waves.
20160307_Kp7 Rate of Change.jpg
20160307_Kp7 Rate of Change.jpg (126.02 KiB) Viewed 3053 times
The significance of the event in context with the more general magnetic environment can be seen in my summary for the month below:
March summary.jpg
March summary.jpg (186.79 KiB) Viewed 3053 times
The remainder of the month has also seen some noteworthy storm events (particularly around 15th-17th)and significant aurora. It will be interesting to see how things progress during the remainder of the solar cycle.

Thanks for looking.

Stu.


H-alpha, WL and Ca II K imaging kit for various image scales.
Fluxgate Magnetometers (1s and 150s Cadence).
Radio meteor detector.
More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
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Re: Geomagnetic summary March 2016

Post by marktownley »

An excellent summary as always Stu! Can you set up an 'alarm' on the pc that records it so that if the rate of change is greater than 5 units it told you something might be happening?


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Derek Klepp
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Re: Geomagnetic summary March 2016

Post by Derek Klepp »

Thanks Stu very informative


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Re: Geomagnetic summary March 2016

Post by Montana »

I'm with Mark, we need an alert :)

This is fantastic data Stu, shows how big the event was :bow :bow :hamster: :hamster:

Alexandra


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Carbon60
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Re: Geomagnetic summary March 2016

Post by Carbon60 »

Thanks Mark, Derek & Alexandra.

It would be good if I could set up an alert, but I'm using an old PC with no wireless connection and there's no telephone point in my 'man cave', so although the software is up to the job, my hardware isn't (at this time). Maybe I'll update my PC and set things up accordingly in due course.

As always, thanks for your interest.

Stu.


H-alpha, WL and Ca II K imaging kit for various image scales.
Fluxgate Magnetometers (1s and 150s Cadence).
Radio meteor detector.
More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
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