Aurora Borealis: Nature’s IMAX

By Laura Keil

Residents across Canada and beyond who were blessed with clear skies Friday May 10th were treated to a rare display of northern lights, thanks to a strong geomagnetic storm.

Neon greens, deep reds, pinks, purples and blues paraded across the night sky for over an hour, starting around 11p.m. According to the National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), geomagnetic storms are a major disturbance of Earth’s magnetosphere when energy transfers from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding Earth.

The NOAA says the largest storms are associated with “solar coronal mass ejections” where a billion tons of plasma from the sun, and its accompanying magnetic field, arrives at Earth.

During storms, currents and particles in the ionosphere create heat that can increase the density in the upper atmosphere, increasing drag on satellites in low-earth orbit.

The heat can also modify ionospheric density which can interfere in the path of radio signals and create errors in the GPS devices; the storms can also create harmful geomagnetic-induced currents in the power grid and pipelines. For the average star-gazer however, they produced a brilliant show unrivalled by any IMAX theatre.