Researchers are looking for a ceiling on the impact of solar storms on Earth. And so far they haven’t found one
Even “moderately intense” geomagnetic storms, disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field caused by charged particles and the Sun’s magnetic energy, can carry much more energy than previously thought, challenging scientists’ understanding of how these space weather events develop and how their strength is measured.
Solar activity cycles have stumped scientists around the world, and research continues
When the current solar cycle began in late 2019, experts from the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), which includes scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), predicted that solar maximum would likely begin sometime in 2025 and would be comparable to the previous, weaker cycle. However, as the current cycle progressed, it quickly became clear that this was not the case, and that solar maximum would occur earlier and be much more intense than initially anticipated.