An Earthbound ‘Cannibal Coronal Mass Ejection’ Event Could Be Imminent
Impacts will be insignificant now, but that could change the next day
A minor earthward-directed Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) currently hit Earth’s magnetic field on Wednesday. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) needs a more powerful earthbound CME to strike Thursday-Friday.
SWPC has already issued geomagnetic surprise watches for a minor geomagnetic storm today, a strong geomagnetic storm on Thursday, and also a moderate one on Friday.
The impacts is going to be insignificant now, but that could change tomorrow as a solid geomagnetic storm can spark power grid fluctuations, develop satellite irregularities, and weaken radio and GPS signals. SWPC’s storm severity level is 1-5.
A visual of the CME impacts on modern society.
Here’s more from spaceweather :
On Aug. 14th, a dark plasma eruption hurled a single CME toward Earth. On Aug. 15th, an exploding magnet filament launched another CME right behind it. The two CMEs will arrive together upon Aug. 18th, according to the most recent forecast model from NOAA:
This could be a “ Cannibal CME ” event. In other words, the second CME might overtake and gobble up the first, creating a mish-mash of the two. Cannibal CMEs contain tangled magnetic areas and compressed plasmas that sometimes spark strong geomagnetic storms.
Geomagnetic Storms will be visible to the nude eye in the US as far as Illinois and Oregon (geomagnetic latitude 50 degrees).
Sunlight is in a very active 11-year solar cycle called Solar Cycle 25, which started in December 2019.
The particular solar cycle peak can be expected in 2025, but even before that, its presence will be felt on plus around Earth via CMEs disrupting modern life .
