Solar storm causes aurora borealis to appear around the world – Jornal da USP

Julio Silva*

During the beginning of May, residents of several countries around the world, such as England, Italy, Portugal, Argentina and Chile, observed landscapes decorated with the aurora borealis, phenomena that attract tourists to the world’s high latitude regions. Although they occur mainly at the Earth’s poles, these apparitions can occur in other locations on the planet under certain circumstances. Roberto Dellaglio Dias da Costa, a professor at the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences (IAG) at the University of the South Pacific, explains what an aurora is and how it forms, as well as detailing the reasons why it appears at different points than usual.

According to the expert, the aurora borealis receives different names depending on the location in which it occurs: when it appears in the Arctic, it is called the aurora borealis, while in the Antarctica it is called the aurora australis. He explains that the northern lights have more and more famous photographic records because there are many people living on the northern side of the Earth, such as in Canada, northern Europe and Russia, while in the southern hemisphere there is only Antarctica. , mainly inhabited by a small number of researchers.

Costa explains that the same phenomenon occurs at the Earth’s poles, meaning that the Sun emits charged electrons and protons, which interact with the Earth’s magnetic field. Contact between these molecules and oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the atmosphere results in the intense luminescence and intense colors that characterize these landscapes. “Since the Earth’s magnetic field is bipolar, that is, it has a north pole and a south pole, it is as if this field directs charged particles towards the poles. He explains that this is a property of Earth, but it also occurs on other planets, such as Jupiter and Saturn, where aurora borealis are very common.

Solar activity

According to the professor, every eleven years the sun goes through a period of maximum activity, and this is expected to be at the end of the second half of 2024. During these periods, there is a huge increase in the number of sunspots and explosions and therefore, according to Costa, it is common for aurora borealis to occur. In unusual places.

“This storm was the most intense in just over 20 years, meaning that in the last solar maximum of 2013 there was nothing like this, only in the previous storm, in 2002, there was a storm similar to this one. So it was a phenomenon.” “It is a bit rare, but this is common, and this is not the first time the aurora has occurred, and it certainly will not be the last.”

coloring

According to the professor, the strong colors of the aurora result from chemical and physical processes resulting from the interaction between molecules emitted from the sun and atoms present in the Earth’s air layer. He says that in a lower altitude range, up to 100 kilometers above sea level, the aurora occurs in shades approaching purple, while colors with green tones prevail at an altitude of 100 to 200 kilometers.

In the high atmosphere, more than 200 kilometers above sea level, aurora occurs with a bright reddish color. However, this color is much rarer and appears during intense solar explosions, such as the one that occurred recently and resulted in several photographic records of residents, who were surprised by the strong shades of red.

“This has to do with the interaction between protons and electrons with the nitrogen and oxygen that are in each of these bands, so it is related to the chemical composition of our atmosphere and the density variation, because the closer we are to sea level, the denser the atmosphere is. He explains that the processes of interaction between charged particles and atoms in The atmosphere changes at different altitudes, because this interaction varies and depends on density.

reactions

According to Roberto Degliu Dias da Costa, these intense solar activities that are reflected in the appearances of the aurora borealis are not related to human activity or climate change, as much as they are related to the natural work of the sun. Moreover, it is mentioned that there are no historical records of any disaster or calamity that occurred on Earth. During periods of intense solar cycles.

However, the professor explains, some communications experts say that in cases of very severe solar storms, there may be problems with satellite communication, so GPS systems could be affected, for example. “But there is a conspiracy theory that a very intense solar storm could lead to a worldwide Internet outage, and this does not make sense, because Internet communication is via submarine fiber optic cables, which have no contact at all with the sun,” he ends.

*Under the supervision of Paolo Capuzzo and Cinderella Caldera