Earth could face ‘minor’ geomagnetic storm due to recent powerful solar flares: NOAA

US authorities have issued a small geomagnetic storm warning for the planet as scientists observed strong outbursts on the sun over the weekend.

The US Space Weather Prediction Center said the storm could hit Tuesday as it issued a “G1” storm warning on Sunday.

According to the center, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a geomagnetic storm forms when there is an exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment around Earth and its magnetosphere is disrupted.

The storms can create beautiful auroras, but they can also disrupt radio signals and navigation systems and create harmful geomagnetically induced currents in the power grid and pipelines, the government said.

The center tracked two solar flares on Friday and Saturday, suggesting coronal mass ejections – large cloud-like ejections of plasma and magnetic field from the solar corona – are expected to reach Earth by Tuesday.

The impact of the ejecta on land would then cause the geomagnetic storm, which is often perceived as a rapid drop in the Earth’s magnetic field strength.

The decline in magnetic force typically lasts between six and 12 hours, according to NASA, and can cause damage to satellites and communications equipment.

Russian scientists also tracked solar flares over the weekend.

The Fedorov Institute for Applied Geophysics in Moscow said X-class flares – the largest explosions in the solar system – were possible. The X-class flares can cause long-lasting radiation storms.

With post wires