The recent solar storm not only illuminated the night sky, but was captured at the bottom of the sea

If you thought that this phenomenon could only be detected in space and on dry land, you were wrong.

The Sun is a very powerful source of energy and on certain occasions releases flares, whose effects reach millions of kilometers away, in what are called solar storms. These storms, as you well know, cause the well-known northern lights, but they can also reach penetrate the earth’s atmosphere And be detected in unexpected places.

Detection of solar storms on the seabed

The initiative Ocean Networks Canadabelonging to the University of Victoria, has published on the website of the Canadian institution how the detection of the past solar storm under the sea.

Both the east coast and the west coast of Canada have observatories on the seabed, which are part of this initiative. The instruments that help scientists become located 2.7 kilometers deep and, some of them, have made it possible to obtain the record of solar activity from a few days ago in an environment that few could expect.

And we are basically talking about compasses placed on the seabed, which have allowed us to contemplate the effect of solar flares. The compasses that showed the most movements in the magnetic shiftin a range between +30 and -30 degrees, were the located 25 meters deep in the Folger Passage area, a place that belongs to the ONC NEPTUNE observatory.

Internal structure of the instrument used to measure the incidence of the solar storm under the sea

Kate MoranCEO and President of Ocean Networks Canada, has talked about detection carried out on the seabed and exposes the grandeur of large-caliber solar storms, like the one we witnessed days ago. According to his words:

The reach of these data records to miles below the ocean surface underscores the magnitude of the solar flare over this past weekend and suggests that the data could be useful in better understanding the geographic extent and intensity of these storms.

He discovery of magnetic disturbances on the ONC compasses arose from quality controls carried out on ADCP instruments, which are those that use sound waves to measure the speed and direction of marine currents. Alex Slonimerscientist of the organization, was the first detected the anomaly and states that:

I looked to see if it was a possible earthquake, but it didn’t make much sense, as the changes in the data lasted too long and occurred in multiple locations. Next, I checked to see if it was a solar flare, since the Sun had been active recently.

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