White orbit trails: All satellites orbiting Earth during the storm
Orange orbits: Proposed orbits for six GDC spacecraft
Orange-to-purple lines: Magnetic field lines around Earth
Blue trails: Solar wind velocity tracers
Green clouds: Electric field current intensity
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NASA Scientific Visualization Studio and NASA DRIVE Science Center for Geospace Storms",
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"description": "From May 7-11, 2024, multiple strong solar flares and at least seven coronal mass ejections (CMEs) stormed toward Earth. Traveling at speeds up to 3 million mph, the CMEs bunched up in waves that reached Earth starting May 10, creating a long-lasting geomagnetic storm that reached a rating of G5 — the highest level on the geomagnetic storm scale, and one that hasn’t been seen since 2003.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory-led DRIVE Science Center for Geospace Storms (CGS) is building a Multiscale Atmosphere-Geospace Environment (MAGE) supercomputer model to understand and predict space weather. This visualization depicts simulation output from the GAMERA magnetosphere model component of MAGE to show how on May 10 and 11, these CMEs interacted with Earth’s magnetosphere and upper atmosphere — some of the largest effects of space weather.
NASA’s future Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) mission will study how these regions react to fluctuations in energy input and how they distribute that energy globally. GDC will enhance our understanding of space weather, thus allowing for better modeling and forecasting. They are shown in orange in the visualization to demonstrate the kind of space weather they may be able to observe and measure.",
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"title": "GDC and DYNAMIC to Explore Earth’s Upper Atmosphere",
"description": "Two upcoming missions, the Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) and Dynamical Neutral Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling (DYNAMIC) will revolutionize our understanding of Earth’s upper atmosphere. This region includes Earth’s ionosphere, thermosphere, and mesosphere, and stretches from roughly 50 to 400 miles above Earth’s surface. Space weather disturbances can impact communications, navigation signals, and satellite orbits, and induce currents can trigger power outages on Earth — making the region a crucial area of study.GDC is a team of satellites that will study Earth’s upper atmosphere and provide the first direct global measurements of our planet’s dynamic and complex interface with the space environment. Working in tandem with the DYNAMIC spacecraft, scientists will be able paint a fuller picture of how energy transforms and travels throughout the upper atmosphere. GDC will fly at an altitude of 350-400 km.DYNAMIC is a pair of satellites that will work in tandem with GDC to study how changes in Earth’s lower atmosphere influence our planet’s upper atmosphere. Between the multiple spacecraft of GDC and DYNAMIC, simultaneous observations from different locations can give scientists a more complete picture of how atmospheric waves propagate up through this unique part of the atmosphere. DYNAMIC will fly at an altitude of 550-800 km. || ",
"release_date": "2025-01-03T00:00:00-05:00",
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"title": "Geomagnetic Storm Causes Satellite Loss",
"description": "In February 2022, a Coronal Mass Ejection led to 38 commercial satellites being lost. Solar plasma from a geomagnetic storm heated the atmosphere, causing denser gases to expand into the satellites’ orbit, which increased atmospheric drag on the satellites and caused them to de-orbit. Johns Hopkins APL-led Center for Geospace Storms (CGS) is building a Multiscale Atmosphere-Geospace Environment (MAGE) supercomputer model to predict space weather. The physics-based MAGE simulation reproduced the storm-time atmospheric density enhancement much better than empirical or standalone ionosphere-thermosphere models, emphasizing the need for fully-coupled whole-of-geospace models for predicting space weather events. || ",
"release_date": "2023-12-11T09:00:00-05:00",
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"alt_text": "This animation demonstrates the Earth’s magnetosphere being hit by a geomagnetic storm on February 3, 2020, simulated by MAGE during the storm that caused the loss of commercial satellites.The green current density shows where magnetic current is strong. Lines tracing out the magnetic field are purple in regions of weaker magnetism, and orange-yellow where the magnetic field is strongest. Blue tracers in the velocity field represent the solar wind, and they have been calibrated to appear brightest when they are moving toward the Earth.Credit:NASA Scientific Visualization Studio and NASA DRIVE Science Center for Geospace Storms",
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"title": "What Happened During the Biggest Geomagnetic Storm in Over 20 Years",
"description": "On May 10, 2024, the first G5 or “severe” geomagnetic storm in over two decades hit Earth. The event did not cause any catastrophic damages, but it did produce surprising effects on Earth. The storm, which has been called the best-documented geomagnetic storm in history, spread auroras to unusually low latitudes and produced effects spanning from the ground to near-Earth space. Data captured during this historic event will be analyzed for years to come, revealing new lessons about the nature of geomagnetic storms and how best to weather them.Learn more:• What NASA Is Learning from the Biggest Geomagnetic Storm in 20 Years• How NASA Tracked the Most Intense Solar Storm in Decades || ",
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"alt_text": "Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music credits: “Set in the Sky” by Nicholas Smith [PRS]; “Constant Motion”, “Future Now”, and “Currents” by Ben Niblett [PRS] and Jon Cotton [PRS]; “Bow Down To Me” by Max Cameron Concors [ASCAP] and Victoria Faith Beaumont [PRS]; “Moto Perpetuo” by Laurent Dury [SACEM]. Aurora imagery is used with permission. Aurora credits in order of appearance: Neil Zeller, Randell Sean Inoc, Xicao Liu, Bill Dunford, Shelley Tonkin, Alistair Luckman, Shane Turgeon, Kimberly Sibbald, Kylie Reid, Adam Block, Darius Yeoh, William Hudson, Quinn Keon.",
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