Coronal mass ejection arrival
Tuesday, 18 April 2023 15:34 UTC
A shock in the solar wind was detected today around 13:20 UTC. This could very well be the arrival of a coronal mass ejection that was launched by a filament eruption on 15 April.
The solar wind speed is now above 500 km/s with a respectable total IMF (Bt) strength of 18nT. The north-south (Bz) direction of the interplanetary magnetic field is currently northwards which will suppress geomagnetic activity. Despite this we did manage to reach active geomagnetic conditions (Kp4) already at around 15:00 UTC. Should the Bz flip southwards for a prolonged period during the CME transition we could very well see moderate G2 geomagnetic storm conditions which equals a Kp of 6. Keep an eye on the data in the hours ahead.
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