Last weekend’s solar storm painted the night skies with colourful Northern Lights, but also had effects detected deep underwater.
Ocean Networks Canada has a network of underwater observatories off the west coast of Vancouver Island. During the storm they detected distortions almost three kilometres deep, possibly some of the most remote recordings ever captured.
The most significant was a compass which shifted by as much as 60 degrees because of magnetic field distortion. The compasses are used to help measure ocean currents, and the change was discovered during data quality control checks.
Ocean Networks Canada says the discovery will help better understand the range and intensity of solar storms in the future.
“The reach of these data recordings kilometres under the ocean surface highlight the magnitude of the solar flare over the past weekend and suggest that the data may be useful for better understanding the geographic extent and intensity of these storms,” said Kate Moran, ONC president and chief executive officer, in a press release.
For more information, including a look at the data recorded, visit Ocean Networks Canada’s website.
