Massive Northern lights display forecast this week across Ireland with a solar tsunami
The sun has finally woke up with giant sunspots now on the Sun over the past number of days with these visible at sunset from Ireland when the sun low on the horizon. There has been a Tsunami of solar flares and CMEs heading towards earth with most of the CMEs earth directed which is good news if you want to see the Northern Lights as its the source of big displays.
Sunspot AR2975 has been busy. Since yesterday it has exploded more than 20 times (13 C-class flares + 8M-class). The eruptions have hurled at least two, possibly three, CMEs toward Earth.
The first CME (1254 UT) has already been modeled by NASA and NOAA. It is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field Late March 30th or over the early hours of March 31st. The second CME (2130 UT) and the potential third CME (2230 UT) are following close behind. They will likely arrive on April 1st. Their combined impact could spark G2- to G3-class geomagnetic storms
Northern lights forecast
This will mean a increasing risk of Northern lights display across Ireland and possibly visible countrywide if you get a good dark location looking northwards from Wednesday night if that CME hits later Wednesday. Even if its later arriving the 2nd and 3rd CME due to hit on Thursday will increase conditions big time with Thursday night possibly seen a big aurora display across Ireland and the UK possibly the biggest in some years.
Weather forecast
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 30TH MARCH 2022
The weather forecast for Wednesday night and Thursday night are for clear sky's with colder air spreading from the north on Wednesday evening and night it will also turn very chilly for the time of year with lows on Wednesday night of 0C to -3C with a sharp to severe frost country wide come Thursday morning overall good conditions for Aurora hunting.
THURSDAY NIGHT 31ST MARCH
Thursday night again will be very cold nationwide with temperatures falling between 0C to -3C with a sharp to severe ground frost.
FRIDAY AND THIS WEEKEND
Unfortunately as we move into Friday and the weekend it looks more showery and cloudy so Wednesday night and Thursday night will be the best times to try especially.
Above: A SOHO coronagraph movie of multiple CMEs on March 28, 2022.
solar tsunami
Sunspot AR2975 erupted on March 28th (1129 UT), producing a major M4-class solar flare. The blast propelled a 'solar tsunami' through the sun's atmosphere. You can see it rippling away from the blast site in this movie from the Solar Dynamics Observatory:
This tsunami was 'radio-active.' Its rippling leading edge beamed radio waves toward Earth. "I received a fantastic solar radio burst at 56 MHz," reports Rob Stammes who recorded the outburst at his space weather observatory in Lofoton, Norway. At about the same time, the US Air Force says they recorded both Type II and Type IV solar radio bursts.
Ironically, while the sun was turning itself into a temporary radio beacon, it simultaneously wiped out some radio transmissions on Earth. A pulse of X-rays from the flare ionized the top of the atmosphere over Africa, causing a shortwave radio blackout:
For more information over the coming days and live updates for each night you can follow Aurora Alerts Ireland page by clicking here.