The Hidden Hazards of Moderate Space Weather

 

Jenn Gannon
Senior Scientist and Vice President
for R&D at Computational Physics, Inc.

Wed, August 30, 2023 - 4:00 PM

While much space weather research tends to focus on the more extreme events, some hazardous geomagnetic storms can be disguised as smaller events. The geomagnetic storm of May 12-13, 2021 was classified by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center as a period of “moderate” activity, registering only as a G2 on the NOAA Geomagnetic Storm scale (G-scale). It began with a sudden impulse on May 12, 2021, and persisted through the early hours of May 13, 2021. While this event may not have been a particularly large in terms of storm
metrics, the response of the power grid was more significant than expected in the US, particularly in the
Washington, DC and surrounding regions.

In this talk, I’ll discuss why the May 2021 event was special, what it may mean for the mid-latitude
United States and other areas that do not typically expect to experience space weather at the ground,
and present a new analysis of why the largest power grid impacts may not always be driven by the
largest geomagnetic storms.

Refreshments served at 3:45 PM

If you have any questions about the Colloquium Series  or would like to make a donation please contact the Physics Department, cua-physics@cua.edu or (202) 319-5315.