{"id":287428,"date":"2023-11-10T14:22:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T13:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=287428"},"modified":"2023-11-10T14:22:58","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T13:22:58","slug":"earths-ring-current-system-just-sprang-a-leak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=287428","title":{"rendered":"Earth\u2019s Ring Current System Just Sprang a\u00a0Leak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


From Spaceweather.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By DR.TONY PHILLIPS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nov. 6, 2023:<\/strong>\u00a0(Spaceweather.com<\/em><\/a>) During this past weekend\u2019s strong\u00a0G3<\/a>-class geomagnetic storm, low-latitude auroras spread as far south as Texas and Arizona. Upon further review, most of those lights were not auroras at all. Everything red in this montage is an \u201cSAR arc\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Credits: Texas (Anita Oakley); Missouri (Dan Bush); New York (James Perez-Rogers); Arizona (Jeremy Perez)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a new phenomenon to me,\u201d says Jeremy Perez, who took the Arizona picture. \u201cI had never heard of SARs before, but I kept shooting anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAR arcs were discovered in 1956 at the beginning of the Space Age. Researchers didn\u2019t know what they were and unwittingly gave them a misleading name: \u201cStable Auroral Red arcs\u201d or SAR arcs. In fact, SAR arcs are neither stable nor auroras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auroras appear when charged particles rain down from space, hitting the atmosphere and causing it to glow.\u00a0SAR arcs form differently. They are a sign of heat energy leaking into the upper atmosphere from Earth\u2019s ring current system\u2013a donut-shaped circuit carrying millions of amps around our planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An artist\u2019s concept of Earth\u2019s ring current, quiet (left) and active (right) [more<\/a>]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn Nov. 5th, the ring current was pumped up by hours of strong geomagnetic storming, with energy dissipating into these SAR arcs,\u201d says Jeff Baumgardner of Boston University\u2019s Center for Space Physics. \u201cIt was a global event. Our cameras registered SAR arc activity from Italy to New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent research has linked SAR arcs to another phenomenon that is not an aurora: STEVE<\/a>. The mauve ribbon in the sky was not originally thought to have anything to do with Earth\u2019s ring current. Yet in 2015, observers in New Zealand caught a bright red SAR arc transforming itself into STEVE<\/a> like a caterpillar into a butterfly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Nov. 5th, Mark Savage may have witnessed the same metamorphosis over Northumberland, UK:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Visible to the naked eye, STEVE materialized from an overhanging red arc. \u201cThe entire process took about 10 minutes,\u201d says Savage. This timescale roughly matches that of another SAR-to-STEVE transition<\/a> observed over Canada in April 2022. Clearly, the two phenomena are linked, but researchers aren\u2019t sure how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe connection is still elusive,\u201d says Carlos Martinis, a leading researcher in the field at Boston University. \u201cSometimes SAR arcs evolve into STEVE\u2013but not always. This is a very active field of research, involving citizen scientists and researchers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you<\/em> see an SAR arc on Nov. 5th? Submit your pictures here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

more SAR images:<\/strong> from Greg Redfern<\/a> of Shenandoah National Park, Virginia; from Dean Cosgrove<\/a> near Stockville, Nebraska; from Chris Cook<\/a> of Borrego Springs, California; from Todd Bush<\/a> of Banner Elk, North Carolina; from Ronnie Sherrill<\/a> of Troutman, North Carolina; from George Preoteasa<\/a> of Milford, PA; from David Blanchard<\/a> of Wupatki National Monument, Arizona; from Hunter Outten<\/a> of Laurel, Delaware; from Caryl Bohn<\/a> of West Oak, Nebraska; from Ken Sklute<\/a> of Phoenix, Arizona; from Bernhard Deufel<\/a> of Horgen, Switzerland; from Klaus Steinberg<\/a> of Troisdorf, Germany; from Bernhard Deufel<\/a> of Horgen, Switzerland<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Spaceweather.com By DR.TONY PHILLIPS Nov. 6, 2023:\u00a0(Spaceweather.com) During this past weekend\u2019s strong\u00a0G3-class geomagnetic storm, low-latitude auroras spread as far south as Texas and Arizona. Upon further review, most of those lights were not auroras at all. Everything red in this montage is an \u201cSAR arc\u201d: \u201cThis was a new phenomenon to me,\u201d says Jeremy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":287436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"During this past weekend\u2019s strong\u00a0G3-class geomagnetic storm, low-latitude auroras spread as far south as Texas and Arizona.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691824487,691824489,691824485,691824486,691824490,691824488],"class_list":{"0":"post-287428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-auroras","9":"tag-earths-ring","10":"tag-g3-class-geomagnetic-storm","11":"tag-sars","12":"tag-steve-transition","13":"tag-upper-atmosphere","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/00Mark-Savage-IMG_5924_1699271862-1.jpg?fit=1201%2C1800&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1cLW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":422345,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=422345","url_meta":{"origin":287428,"position":0},"title":"X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE \u2013 CME headed toward Earth","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/21\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A full-halo CME is heading for Earth following a long-duration X1.9-class solar flare on Jan. 18th. 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