Solar Storm's Impact Detected in Deep Sea Observatories

Solar Storm's Impact Detected in Deep Sea Observatories
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 20, 2024
The solar storm that recently drove the aurora borealis was also affecting compasses deep in the ocean, according to new findings by Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), a University of Victoria initiative.

ONC's subsea observatories on Canada's coasts recorded temporary distortions in the Earth's magnetic field on instrument platforms deployed as deep as 2.7 kilometers. These are some of the most remote recordings ever captured.

The most significant magnetic shift moved the compass direction by +30 to -30 degrees at a depth of 25 meters at the Folger Passage subsea site, part of the ONC NEPTUNE observatory off Vancouver Island.

Geomagnetic disturbances can pose risks to power grids, satellite networks, and navigation systems, and impact animal navigation.

These solar storm magnetic disturbances were discovered during data quality checks. ONC uses compasses to orient its Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) instruments which measure ocean currents.

Alex Slonimer, a scientific data specialist at ONC, first noticed an anomaly in late March during a daily data check on the Ocean 3.0 Data Portal.

"I looked into whether it was potentially an earthquake, but that didn't make a lot of sense because the changes in the data were lasting for too long and concurrently at different locations," Slonimer explains. "Then, I looked into whether it was a solar flare as the sun has been active recently."

This past weekend's larger solar storm reinforced the observation, with compass heading peaks closely correlated to visible aurora activity.

Justin Albert, professor of physics with UVic's Department of Physics and Astronomy, welcomes the new subsea geomagnetic detections.

"The next two years will be the peak of the 11-year solar cycle. After a decade of relative inactivity, aurora events like this past weekend are likely to become more frequent over the next couple of years, although solar variability makes precise prediction of such events impossible," says Albert. "ONC's network might provide a very helpful additional window into the effects of solar activity on the Earth's terrestrial magnetism."

Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) operates observatories in the deep ocean, coastal waters, and land of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic coasts of Canada, and in the Southern Ocean. ONC's cabled observatories provide continuous power and internet connectivity to scientific instruments, cameras, and over 12,000 ocean sensors. ONC also operates ocean mobile and land-based assets, including coastal radar. ONC, an initiative of the University of Victoria, is supported by the Government of Canada and is one of the country's major research facilities.