FRIDAY THE 13TH, A LUCKY DAY FOR AURORAS (UPDATED): Moderately strong G2-class geomagnetic storms are underway on Oct. 13th as the solar wind around Earth quickens its pace. Wind speeds are now topping 650 km/s. As a result, strong auroras are likely around the poles, while faint auroras could descend as far south in the USA as, e.g., New York, Idaho, and Washington. Free: Aurora Alerts.
THESE AURORAS MADE THE SLED DOGS HOWL: Oliver Wright is an aurora tour guide in Abisko, Sweden. Last night he and his guests watched some "big auroras" for two hours. Just before midnight the group adjourned to their hotel, happy and satisfied. Little did they know, the auroras weren't finished. "I was heading home when I saw something brewing," says Wright. "I quickly got my guests back out of bed!" This is what they saw:
"I've seen a lot of auroras in my 4th year of guiding but this was something else!" says Wright. "The metal cables were making a racket, the sled dogs where howling, and this huge super fast corona danced overhead. I don't think the guests minded me getting them out bed!"
The remarkable display was caused by a stream of solar wind flowing from a large hole in the sun's atmosphere. Earth has been inside the spray of electrified gas since Oct. 10th with increasingly intense displays of Northern Lights each day. NOAA forecasters say Earth will spend at least one more day inside the stream. Will the sled dogs of Abisko howl again? Stay tuned. Free: Aurora Alerts
A NEW THREAT TO THE OZONE LAYER: High above Earth, more than 20 miles above sea level, a diaphanous layer of ozone surrounds our planet, absorbing energetic ultraviolet rays from the sun. It is, essentially, sunscreen for planet Earth. Without the ozone layer, we would be bathed in dangerous radiation on a daily basis.
For more than 30 years, the Montreal Protocol has regulated ozone-destroying chemicals, allowing Earth's ozone holes to heal and shrink. But there's trouble on the horizon. An international team of researchers led by David Oram of the University of East Anglia has found an unexpected, growing danger to the ozone layer from substances not regulated by the treaty.
Above: The Antarctic ozone hole in Sept. 2016. [more]
The danger comes from a class of chemicals known as "anthropogenic chlorocarbons." Dichloromethane is an example. It is used in paint stripping, agricultural fumigation, and the production of pharmaceuticals. Over the past decade dichloromethane became approximately 60% more abundant. "This was a major surprise to the scientific community and we were keen to discover the cause of this sudden increase," says Oram.
Developing economies in East Asia appear to be the source. "Our estimates suggest that China may be responsible for around 50-60% of current global emissions [of dichloromethane], with other Asian countries, including India, likely to be significant emitters as well," says Oram.
Dichloromethane and similar chemicals were not regulated by the Montreal protocol because they were thought to be too short-lived to reach the ozone layer. However, East Asia has a special pattern of circulation that can push these chemicals skyward, very rapidly. It's a two-step process: Cold-air surges in East Asia quickly carry industrial pollution into the tropics. "It is here that air is most likely to be uplifted into the stratosphere (where ozone is located)," says co-author Matt Ashfold of the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.
Read the original research in the journal of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: "A growing threat to the ozone layer from short-lived anthropogenic chlorocarbons" by Oram et al.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
THESE CRYSTALS HAVE TOUCHED SPACE: On Aug. 21st during the Great American Solar Eclipse, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched 11 space weather balloons from the path of totality and filmed the shadow of the Moon from the stratosphere. As a fundraiser, some of the balloons carried jewelry--like this:
During the 2.5 hour flight, this rose quartz crystal eclipse pendant was wrapped in the Moon's shadow for more than two minutes, experiencing a spooky darkness colder than -50 C.
You can have one for $149.95. Each crystal pendant comes with a unique gift card showing the jewelry passing through the Moon's shadow and floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that this gift has been to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All proceeds support hands-on STEM education