NASA Alert: G2 class solar storm 26th Feb.

February 26, 2012 – INCOMING CME: Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab say a coronal mass ejection (CME) will hit Earth’s magnetic field on Feb. 26th at 13:30 UT (+/- 7 hr). The impact could spark a G2-class geomagnetic storm. –Space Weather

SOLAR STORM CAUSING COLD WAVE

Radio SRBIJA

Meteorologist Milan Stevančević, of the Belgrade School of Meteorology, told our radio that the cold wave that struck Serbia and the whole of Europe recently had been caused by a solar storm, or a solar flare. More from Jelica Tapušković.

Solar flares are a common phenomena indispensable for life on the Earth. No matter how destructive they may be, solar flares have a positive effect as well. Precipitations, wind and other similar phenomena depend on the strength of solar flares. However, solar flares can also cause earthquakes, storms, tornadoes and other negative natural phenomena. As meteorology engineer Milan Stevančević explains for our radio, the size of a solar eruption affects the climate – namely, the larger and stronger the eruption, the colder the winter and the rainier the summer will be.

Although, in the 4th century BC, Aristotle described rain as a condensation product, today we know that rain is formed at an atomic level, by means of valence electrons, says Stevančević, adding that the present satellite communications clearly show that fact. Clouds and precipitations result from a large quantity of oxygen and hydrogen from the Sun. The same applies to earthquakes, which correlate with extremely strong eruptions on the Sun, says Stevančević, who is, by the way, the founder of solar meteorology in Serbia. He emphasizes that every solar flare results in proton radiation, which triggers ionization on entering the atmosphere. One should stay indoors during the period of ionizing radiation, because such radiation is dangerous. The solar storm of 28 January this year produced, in 15 minutes alone, a type of ionizing radiation that was five times as strong as an X-ray, says Stevančević. A human body tolerates such an amount of radiation only once in a calendar year, so we can expect various physiological disturbances, and not only in chronic patients, but also among young and healthy people, he stresses. He emphasizes, however, that ionizing radiation itself and its detrimental effect on humans and all other living beings can be anticipated and, accordingly, prevented. Luckily, on January 28, the sky above the Balkan peninsula was covered with clouds, which are the best absorbers of all the energy coming from the Sun, he emphasizes.

Stevančević also underlined that the proton particles which produced recent snow had brought a large quantity of chemical elements with them – namely iron, nitrogen, magnesium and phosphorus, which elements have fertilized the fields and the positive effect of which will be displayed when the snow starts melting.