CIR impact, KP5, first Geomagnetic storm of 2022!

[Sam Warfel]

Density went to 60, BZ to -16 and has stayed significantly southerly for a while!

A nice CIR impact, we are beginning to see the slow rise in Solar wind speed from the incoming CH HSS. 

Only KP4 so far, seems like a minor geomagnetic storm may be possible however 

Edit: We did reach KP5!
First Geomagnetic Storm of 2022 I think!

Edited January 8, 2022 by Orneno

[Solarflaretracker200]

16 hours ago, Orneno said:

Edit: We did reach KP5!
First Geomagnetic Storm of 2022 I think!

Yep your right! First one of 2022! Seems like 2022 wants to be better then 2021!

[Drax Spacex]

Or... the inferior conjunction of Venus created both a gravitational and magnetic lens that focused the background solar wind into a narrow beam that was accelerated by the slingshot effect which hurled a brief but strong solar wind towards Earth.  Subspace tachyon field disturbance and local time-space distortion cannot be ruled out, neither can "I don't know" as possible explanations for the G1 minor storm 😜

[FairyG]

new to this. i adore this comment. fascinating ideas. what makes you say subspace tachyon field disturbances?

9 hours ago, Drax Spacex said:

Or... the inferior conjunction of Venus created both a gravitational and magnetic lens that focused the background solar wind into a narrow beam that was accelerated by the slingshot effect which hurled a brief but strong solar wind towards Earth.  Subspace tachyon field disturbance and local time-space distortion cannot be ruled out, neither can "I don't know" as possible explanations for the G1 minor storm 😜

 

[Solarflaretracker200]

8 hours ago, FairyG said:

new to this. i adore this comment. fascinating ideas. what makes you say subspace tachyon field disturbances?

I think it’s a joke 

unless I’m stupid and misunderstood you 😂  

[Sam Warfel]

9 hours ago, FairyG said:

new to this. i adore this comment. fascinating ideas. what makes you say subspace tachyon field disturbances?

 

It was a joke 😂

[Drax Spacex]

11 hours ago, FairyG said:

new to this. i adore this comment. fascinating ideas. what makes you say subspace tachyon field disturbances?

Yes, a jocular nod to the frequent use of "tachyon" in the technobabble from Star Trek The Next Generation.  That said, tachyon fields are occasionally mentioned in theoretical astrophysics articles.

 

Joking aside, CIR stands for "Corotating Interaction Region."  As I understand it, it is a pressure wave at the leading edge of a Corona Hole High Speed Stream (CH HSS).  Is the arrival of a CH HSS always preceded by a CIR?

e.g. is the time sequence always

Background (ambient) solar wind>CIR>CH HSS

but not

Background (ambient) solar wind>CH HSS ?

[3gMike]

2 hours ago, Drax Spacex said:

Joking aside, CIR stands for "Corotating Interaction Region."  As I understand it, it is a pressure wave at the leading edge of a Corona Hole High Speed Stream (CH HSS).  Is the arrival of a CH HSS always preceded by a CIR?

e.g. is the time sequence always

Background (ambient) solar wind>CIR>CH HSS

but not

Background (ambient) solar wind>CH HSS ?

Some good info available here https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/coronal-holes which suggests that your understanding is correct.

[Sam Warfel]

2 hours ago, Drax Spacex said:

 Is the arrival of a CH HSS always preceded by a CIR?

I think maybe not, I seem to recall times when it was just a slow increase in speed to a CH HSS. I think CIRs are notoriously hard to predict

[Drax Spacex]

It may be a matter of degree - that a CIR always exists to some degree ahead of a CH HSS, but a weaker CIR may not have significant impact and is consequently not mentioned in the forecast discussion.  From the swpc link, "Strong CIRs and the faster CH HSS can impact Earth’s magnetosphere enough to cause periods of geomagnetic storming to the G1-G2 (Minor to Moderate) levels."