The day after: return to quiet geomagnetic conditions

Saturday, 13 September 2014 20:30 UTC

Despite the lack of cooperation from the IMF we did had some geomagnetic instability in the hours following the CME impact when the direction of the IMF was still fluctuating a bit. The NOAA SWPC reported one period where the strong G3 geomagnetic storm threshold was reached while the Wing-Kp index didn't go further than moderate G2 geomagnetic storm conditions.

Photographic aurorae were reported from the northern parts of the Netherlands which suggests indeed that G3 conditions were never fully reached. Locations at higher latitudes both in Europe and America did report occasional displays of vivid aurorae despite that the direction of the IMF was never really in our favor. The image below was taken from the Netherlands by Karin Broekhuijsen. She reports that the aurorae was not visible by the naked eye and could only be seen on the pictures that she took with her camera. 

We have been really unlucky with the northpointing IMF as this geomagnetic storm indeed had the potential for aurora visible with the naked-eye from all middle latitude locations. We are nevertheless happy to hear that many people saw aurora for the first time in their life even though the storm was not as strong as we all hoped it would be.

With CME effects waning and the IMF pinned northwards we do not expect any geomagnetic storming anymore and the middle latitude auroral activity watch is over. Aurora outbreaks are still possible at high latitudes but the show is over for the middle latitudes.

Do you have photos from last night that you want to share with us? Send them to photos[at]spaceweatherlive.com and we will add them to this news item. Be sure to provide your name, location and if you wish your website.

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To end this news item we have a timelapse video made last night by one of our team members who lives in northern Sweden. Enjoy!

Timelapse video by Torbjörn Tapani from Gällivare, Sweden.