{ "id": 10933, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10933/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Super Hot Tsunami", "description": "On March 6, 2012, giant waves known as \"solar tsunamis\" swept across the sun just after an eruption of an X5.4-class flare, the second largest solar flare since 2006. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite mapped the evolution of the waves—some stretching across the entire 865,000-mile width of the sun—as they rippled outward from the flare at speeds greater than one million miles per hour. These waves, officially called \"EIT waves,\" may be what triggers fast coronal mass ejections, the spectacular clouds of ejected solar material that sometimes follow a flare, achieve escape velocity and hurtle into space. The video below shows two distinct waves emerging after the flare: the first spreads in all directions; the second is narrower, moving toward the southeast. It is likely that both are connected to one of the two coronal mass ejections spotted about an hour and a half after the eruption. || ", "release_date": "2012-03-22T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:10.968987-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 478255, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010933/COVER_1024x576.jpg", "filename": "COVER_1024x576.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A large solar flare gives rise to humongous waves on the sun.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 }, "main_video": { "id": 478258, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010933/10925_March6_XFlare-540-MASTER_high.mp4", "filename": "10925_March6_XFlare-540-MASTER_high.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "See footage of the solar flare and tsunami waves imaged at two different wavelengths.", "width": 960, "height": 540, "pixels": 518400 }, "main_credits": { "Written by": [ { "name": "Karen Fox", "employer": "ADNET Systems, Inc." } ] }, "progress": "Complete", "media_groups": [ { "id": 349676, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10933/#media_group_349676", "widget": "Basic text with HTML", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "On March 6, 2012, giant waves known as \"solar tsunamis\" swept across the sun just after an eruption of an X5.4-class flare, the second largest solar flare since 2006. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite mapped the evolution of the waves—some stretching across the entire 865,000-mile width of the sun—as they rippled outward from the flare at speeds greater than one million miles per hour. These waves, officially called \"EIT waves,\" may be what triggers fast coronal mass ejections, the spectacular clouds of ejected solar material that sometimes follow a flare, achieve escape velocity and hurtle into space. The video below shows two distinct waves emerging after the flare: the first spreads in all directions; the second is narrower, moving toward the southeast. It is likely that both are connected to one of the two coronal mass ejections spotted about an hour and a half after the eruption.", "items": [], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 349677, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10933/#media_group_349677", "widget": "Single image", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "A large solar flare gives rise to humongous waves on the sun.", "items": [ { "id": 322436, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 478254, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010933/COVER_1920x1080.jpg", "filename": "COVER_1920x1080.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A large solar flare gives rise to humongous waves on the sun.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 322437, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 478255, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010933/COVER_1024x576.jpg", "filename": 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{ "id": 322440, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 854035, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010933/a010933_iPad_movie_10925_March6_XFlare-540-MASTER/10925_March6_XFlare-540-MASTER.m3u8", "filename": "10925_March6_XFlare-540-MASTER.m3u8", "media_type": "File", "alt_text": "See footage of the solar flare and tsunami waves imaged at two different wavelengths." } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 349679, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10933/#media_group_349679", "widget": "Video player", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "An artist's rendition of a solar tsunami shows the waves propagating outwards from the flare with immense force.", "items": [ { "id": 322447, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 478262, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010933/VID2-poster-frame_1280x720.jpg", "filename": "VID2-poster-frame_1280x720.jpg", 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"id": 478268, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010933/diptych_STILL1_1024x576.jpg", "filename": "diptych_STILL1_1024x576.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory captured the first coronal mass ejection (left) and a combined view of both (right).", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 322452, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 478266, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010933/diptych_STILL1_1024x576_web.png", "filename": "diptych_STILL1_1024x576_web.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory captured the first coronal mass ejection (left) and a combined view of both (right).", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 349681, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10933/#media_group_349681", "widget": "Single image", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "An EIT wave travels across the upper half of the sun on Aug. 1, 2010, as seen by SDO. ", "items": [ { "id": 322453, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 478269, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010933/solarwave_STILL2_1024x576.jpg", "filename": "solarwave_STILL2_1024x576.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "An EIT wave travels across the upper half of the sun on Aug. 1, 2010, as seen by SDO. ", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 322454, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 478270, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010933/solarwave_STILL2_1920x1080.jpg", "filename": "solarwave_STILL2_1920x1080.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "An EIT wave travels across the upper half of the sun on Aug. 1, 2010, as seen by SDO. ", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 322455, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 478271, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010933/solarwave_STILL2_1024x576_web.png", "filename": "solarwave_STILL2_1024x576_web.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "An EIT wave travels across the upper half of the sun on Aug. 1, 2010, as seen by SDO. ", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 349682, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10933/#media_group_349682", "widget": "Basic text", "title": "For More Information", "caption": "", "description": "See [NASA.gov](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News030712-X5-4.html)", "items": [], "extra_data": {} } ], "studio": "gms", "funding_sources": [ "PAO" ], "credits": [ { "role": "Animator", "people": [ { "name": "Walt Feimer", "employer": "HTSI" }, { "name": "Tom Bridgman", "employer": "Global Science and Technology, Inc." }, { "name": "Scott Wiessinger", "employer": "USRA" } ] }, { "role": "Video editor", "people": [ { "name": "Scott Wiessinger", "employer": "USRA" } ] }, { "role": "Producer", "people": [ { "name": "Scott Wiessinger", "employer": "USRA" }, { "name": "Genna Duberstein", "employer": "USRA" } ] }, { "role": "Writer", "people": [ { "name": "Karen Fox", "employer": "ADNET Systems, Inc." } ] } ], "missions": [], "series": [], "tapes": [], "papers": [], "datasets": [], "nasa_science_categories": [ "Sun" ], "keywords": [ "App" ], "recommended_pages": [], "related": [ { "id": 10925, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10925/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "HD Close up of March 6th X5.4 Flare", "description": "The sun erupted with one of the largest solar flares of this solar cycle on March 6, 2012 at 7PM ET. ?This flare was categorized as an X5.4, making it the second largest flare — after an X6.9 on August 9, 2011 — since the sun's activity segued into a period of relatively low activity called solar minimum in early 2007. The current increase in the number of X-class flares is part of the sun's normal 11-year solar cycle, during which activity on the sun ramps up to solar maximum, which is expected to peak in late 2013. About an hour later, at 8:14 PM ET, March 6, the same region let loose an X1.3 class flare. ?An X1 is 5 times smaller than an X5 flare. These X-class flares erupted from an active region named AR 1429 that rotated into view on March 2. ?Prior to this, the region had already produced numerous M-class and one X-class flare. ?The region continues to rotate across the front of the sun, so the March 6 flare was more Earthward facing than the previous ones. ?It triggered a temporary radio blackout on the sunlit side of Earth that interfered with radio navigation and short wave radio.In association with these flares, the sun also expelled two significant coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are traveling faster than 600 miles a second and may arrive at Earth in the next few days. ?In the meantime, the CME associated with the X-class flare from March 4 has dumped solar particles and magnetic fields into Earth's atmosphere and distorted Earth's magnetic fields, causing a moderate geomagnetic storm, rated a G2 on a scale from G1 to G5. ?Such storms happen when the magnetic fields around Earth rapidly change strength and shape. ?A moderate storm usually causes aurora and may interfere with high frequency radio transmission near the poles. ?This storm is already dwindling, but the Earth may experience another enhancement if the most recent CMEs are directed toward and impact Earth. In addition, last night's flares have sent solar particles into Earth's atmosphere, producing a moderate solar energetic particle event, also called a solar radiation storm. These particles have been detected by NASA's SOHO and STEREO spacecraft, and NOAA's GOES spacecraft. ?At the time of writing, this storm is rated an S3 on a scale that goes up to S5. ?Such storms can interfere with high frequency radio communication. Besides the August 2011 X-class flare, the last time the sun sent out flares of this magnitude was in 2006. ?There was an X6.5 on December 6, 2006 and an X9.0 on December 5, 2006. Like the most recent events, those two flares erupted from the same region on the sun, which is a common occurrence. || ", "release_date": "2012-03-07T15:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:13.456307-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 478390, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010925/Massive_Flare_HD_Still.png", "filename": "Massive_Flare_HD_Still.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Massive Flare Gets HD Closeup.Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDOFor complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 20039, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20039/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "A Solar Tsunami", "description": "Violent events on the Sun can trigger waves much the same as earthquakes can trigger tsunamis on the Earth. || ", "release_date": "2004-12-31T12:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:56:24.488228-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 516002, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020000/a020039/TsunamSml_pre.jpg", "filename": "TsunamSml_pre.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Violent events on the Sun can trigger waves much the same as earthquakes can trigger tsunamis on the Earth.", "width": 320, "height": 219, "pixels": 70080 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }