**** GEOMAGNETIC STORM BEGINNING ****

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SEC Space Weather Advisoryhttp://sec.noaa.gov/advisories/200004061951_advisory.html SEC Space Weather Advisory Official Space Weather Advisory issued by NOAA Space Environment Center Boulder, Colorado, USA SPACE WEATHER BULLETIN #00- 2 2000 April 06 at 02:50 p.m. MDT (2000 April 06 2050 UT)

**** GEOMAGNETIC STORM BEGINNING **** The ACE spacecraft, located approximately one million miles towards the Sun, detected a fast-moving ejection in the solar wind at approximately 10:00 AM MDT today (1600 UT on April 6). This structure is believed to have been launched from the Sun late on April 4. The Earth's magnetic field responded shortly thereafter, and major storm conditions are now occurring at all latitudes.

It is expected that this storm will continue for the next 24-36 hours. Significant impacts on terrestrial systems include some electrical power systems, spacecraft operations, and communications and navigation systems.

In terms of the New NOAA Space Weather Scales, this storm may reach category G3 (strong) level.

Data used to provide space weather services are contributed by NOAA, USAF, NASA, NSF, USGS, the International Space Environment Services and other observatories, universities, and institutions. More information is available at SEC's Web site http://sec.noaa.gov or (303) 497-5127. The NOAA Public Affairs contact is Barbara McGehan at Barbara.McGehan@noaa.gov or (303) 497-6288.

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 07, 2000

Answers

Good post, Martin.

The first paragraph of the following newsletter article is interesting too.....

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Subj: [nhnenews] Geomagnetic Storm Alert Date: 4/6/2000 8:21:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time

From: nhne@nhne.com (NHNE)

Reply-to: nhnenews-owner@egroups.com

To: nhnenews@onelist.com (*nhnenews@onelist.com)

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GEOMAGNETIC STORM ALERT

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, PO Box 25046, MS 150, Denver, CO 80225, E-mail: herzog@usgs.gov, April 6, 2000, Contacts: Don Herzog (303) 273-8487, Heidi Koehler (303) 236- 5446

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reports a sudden increase in geomagnetic activity that may signal the onset of a geomagnetic storm. While it is geomagnetic storms that give rise to the beautiful Northern lights, they can also pose a serious threat for commercial and military satellite operators, power companies, astronauts, and they can even shorten the life of oil pipelines in Alaska by increasing pipeline corrosion.

A significant increase in geomagnetic activity was observed at about 12:45 p.m. (E.T) on Thursday, April 6, 2000. Space Weather sources at NOAA & NASA indicate that the likely cause of this increased activity is due to an interplanetary shock wave that was detected by the ACE satellite at about 12:30 p.m. (E.T) today. Magnetic activity increased at all USGS magnetic observatories about 15 minutes later and could be significant over the next 24-48 hours. If this geomagnetic activity continues, there is the possibility for visible aurora at mid-latitudes. Plots of the data from these observatories can be seen on-line at: http://geomag.usgs.gov/ frames/plots.htm

Geomagnetic storms occur when plasma, a hot ionized gas of charged particles produced by eruptions on the Sun, impacts the Earth's magnetic field causing it to fluctuate wildly. These fluctuations cause currents to flow in conductors on the ground and in space. Solar eruptions can produce billions of tons of plasma traveling at speeds in excess of a million miles an hour.

The USGS provides valuable geomagnetic data to a wide variety of users and organizations that are affected by geomagnetic storms. The agency operates a network of 14 magnetic observatories that continuously monitor the Earth's magnetic field. The data are collected in near-real time via satellite to a downlink center located in Golden, Colo., and provided to numerous customers including NOAA's Space Environment Center and the U.S. Air Force Space Command Center.

This press release and in-depth information about USGS programs may be found on the USGS home page: http://www.usgs.gov . To receive the latest USGS news releases automatically by email, send a request to . Specify the listserver(s) of interest from the following names: water-pr; geologic-hazards-pr; biological-pr; mapping-pr; products-pr; lecture-pr. In the body of the message write: subscribe (name of listserver) (your name). Example: subscribe water-pr joe smith.

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David Sunfellow, NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE), eMail: nhne@nhne.com, NHNE Website: http://www.nhne.com/, NHNE "Pulse" Website: http://www.nhne.com/pulse/, Phone: (520) 282-6120, Fax: (815) 346-1492

Appreciate what we are doing? You can say so with a tax-deductible donation: http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html, P.O. Box 10627 Sedona, AZ 86339-8627

NHNE News List, Current Members: 335

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To subscribe, send a message to: nhnenews-subscribe@onelist.com

To unsubscribe, send a message to: nhnenews-unsubscribe@onelist.com

To review previous posts: http://www.nhne.com/newslist/index.html

NHNE's Pulse: http://www.nhne.com/pulse/

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), April 07, 2000.


NASA Science News for April 7, 2000

A major geomagnetic storm hit our planet on Thursday after an interplanetary shock wave passed by Earth on April 6, 2000. Displays of aurora borealis were spotted in Europe, Asia, Canada, Alaska and in the continental US as far south as North Carolina. The storm appears to be subsiding, but forecasters note that more aurorae might be visible Friday night. FULL STORY at http:// spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast07apr_2m.htm

~~

Also see *astounding* Sun images and data at http://www.cyberspace.orbit.co m/

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), April 07, 2000.


Apologies! The correct Url for Cyberspace Orbit is

http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), April 07, 2000.


Hare is a neat site in Australia for the above information.

http://www.ips.oz.au/asfc/current/index.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 07, 2000.


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