GEOMAGNETIC STORMS: UPSC Daily Important Topic | 4 March 2022

GEOMAGNETIC STORMS

◇ The varying conditions in the magnetosphere, known as space weather, are largely driven by solar activity.

◇ If the solar wind is weak, the magnetosphere expands; while if it is strong, it compresses the magnetosphere and more of it gets in.

◇ Periods of intense activity, called geomagnetic storms, can occur when a coronal mass ejection erupts above the Sun and sends a shock wave through the Solar System. It takes just two days to reach the Earth.

◇ At the Earth’s surface, a magnetic storm is seen as a rapid drop in the Earth’s magnetic field strength.

◇ Ring Current: Ring current is the name given to the large electric current that circles the Earth above its equator during magnetic storms.