Indian astronomers find Coronal Mass Ejection influences space weather prediction: Study

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) announced on Tuesday that a recent study has proven how circumstances and occurrences in the solar atmosphere, such as coronal mass ejections, influence the accuracy of space weather prediction, which is critical for satellite health. This information will aid in the interpretation of data from India's first solar mission, Aditya-L1.

Ejections from Sun’s corona influence space weather predictions

The circumstances in the solar wind and near-Earth space that can affect the performance of space-borne and ground-based technological devices are referred to as space weather. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are frequent explosive expulsions of enormous magnetised plasma from the Sun into its surroundings that can blow past the Earth, are the primary cause of space weather near the Earth. The geomagnetic storm, a disruption in the Earth's magnetic field that can last anywhere from a few hours to many days, is an example of space weather phenomena. Monitoring and sustaining our satellites necessitates an understanding of how events in the solar environment affect space weather.

Astronomers led by Wageesh Mishra of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), a DST institute in Bengaluru, demonstrated that plasma properties and Earth arrival periods of CMEs from the Sun might vary significantly with longitudinal locations in interplanetary space in the current study. Kunjal Dave of CU Shah University in Gujarat, Professor Nandita Srivastava of Physical Research Laboratory in Udaipur, and Professor Luca Teriaca of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany co-authored this study, which was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal.

The researchers also investigated Earth-directed CMEs and their interplanetary counterparts (ICMEs). They rebuilt a 3D image of the CMEs and ICMEs using publicly accessible plasma measurements in situ at three places in the Solar System; two of NASA's STEREO spacecraft and the LASCO coronagraph onboard SOHO positioned near the first Lagrangian point (L1) on the Sun-Earth line. The ICMEs of March 11 and August 6, 2011, when they arrived at Earth, are the two events that the current study is based on.

Sun’s corona influence space weather predictions crucial for monitoring satellites

The study looked at the changes in the dynamics, arrival time, plasma and magnetic field properties of ICME structures at different locations in the heliosphere, where different satellites are positioned using multi-point remote and in situ data. The solar wind is a constant stream of charged particles that the Sun generates, according to scientists. The two occurrences chosen were ideal for investigating the impact of CME shocks travelling through the solar wind.

"We found that plasma characteristics and arrival times of a CME-driven shock, propagating in a pre-conditioned inhomogeneous medium, may be different at different longitudinal locations in the heliosphere," said Mishra, the lead author.

The work emphasises the challenges of connecting local observations of an ICME from a single in situ satellite to its global structures, as well as the difficulty of accurately predicting big CME structures at any place in the heliosphere. It was stressed that a lack of knowledge about the pre-conditioned ambient solar wind medium can substantially limit the accuracy of CME arrival timing and space weather forecasting. According to the study, this new understanding will aid in the interpretation of data from space missions.

(with inputs from PTI)

(Image: @PIB_India/Twitter)