“After enjoying the light show, we should also take away a renewed awareness”
A COLUMN By Frederick Sinclair
People in the Northeast are thrilled at the opportunity to see what is commonly referred to as the Northern Lights. More routinely seen in the northern latitudes, and also dubbed the Aurora Borealis it is luminescence occurring in the earths atmosphere as the result of mass explosions on the sun (coronal ejections) sending highly charged electron, proton and X rays colliding with the magnetic field of the earth. This phenomena also occurs in the southern hemisphere and is called Aurora Australis (Southern Lights). The light shows occur as the magnetic field of the earth guides the high energy particles toward the north and south poles. This magnetic storm in collision with atmospheric oxygen glows red or green and with nitrogen, green and purple.
The Sun routinely exhibits sun spots and small areas of turbulence or eruptions which send ejections (flares) into space. When our Sun experiences a pole shift every 11 to 12 years, that cycle often results in more frequent and larger eruptions referred to as mass coronal eruptions. These can be massive enough and if pointed at the earth, or rotated into, hit our magnetosphere with great force, the illumination from which, can be observed over proportionately larger areas of the globe depending on the strength of the flare. The time of travel to earth from the sun can be hours or days depending on the intensity. The most recent flares were rated X-9 within the class system ranging from the smallest being B then C then M then strongest X with a numerical intensity attached within each class. The largest solar flare event in the last 500 years was observed by an astronomer by the name of Carrington on September 1st 1889. It took only hours to reach the earth and illuminated the night sky all the way down to the Carribean with northern lights so bright “you could read a book at night.” The early telegraph lines and towers were fried and local electric systems and devices were overwhelmed with electricity. Society at that time was not wholly dependent on an electric grid. During the winter of 1989 a flare paralyzed the entire grid of Quebec Canada and in 2012 a flare erupted from the sun that could have rivaled the Carrington Event and fortunately, it was not directed at the earth.
The beauty and novelty of such a celestial event ranks right up there with the bigger than life harvest moon and eclipses, in capturing the attention of most people. The fascination in observing the darkness of night becoming waves of color has mesmerized mankind from prehistoric to modern times. Some are sensitive to and can feel the electromagnetic waves accompanying the magnetic storms but for the most part, solar flares carry a far greater potential impact to modern man. Our society is dependent on electronic based technologies which are woven into almost all aspects of our lives. Impacts from solar flares have been shown to damage the protective qualities of the ozone layer and natural function of the earths’ ionosphere. The electromagnetic pulse (EMP) of solar flares, and resultant geo-magnetic storms, can impact our technologies in ways we need to be aware of and prepared for. After enjoying the light show, we should also take away a renewed awareness of and commitment to hardening of our electrical grid and readiness to protect and reconstruct our electronic infrastructure. Humanity also needs to do everything possible to strengthen and not continue to weaken the function of the protective atmospheric ionosphere and ozone layer. As we stand in awe of the beauty of the Aurora Borealis we should also be mindful of the beast it can release.
