Research at the Athabasca University Geophysical Observatory focuses on space weather and its impacts on human systems
Solar storms and auroras can cause beautiful light displays as the Northern Lights—but they can also have significant, or even catastrophic, effects here on Earth.
That’s one of the reasons Athabasca University researchers Dr. Martin Connors and Dr. Darcy Cordell keep their eyes on the skies at an observatory in Athabasca County, Alta., far from the light pollution of the big cities.
The high-tech instruments at the Athabasca University Geophysical Observatory measure, among other things, the electromagnetic fields in the atmosphere and in the ground. Strong space-weather events like aurora can—and have—disrupted electrical systems on Earth. This motivates researchers to measure, and hopefully in time, predict these kinds of events.
“That's kind of the Holy Grail, I would say,” Cordell said. “If you could give them a prediction, you know, five or 10 minutes in advance, that really helps.”
A unique observatory
While that kind of accuracy is not yet possible with current research and technology, the observatory’s instruments provide data that could ultimately make that sort of prediction possible.
Its location in rural Athabasca County, about 40 km southwest of AU’s main campus, is far away from city lights, enabling a better view of the sky—including capturing some spectacular images of the auroral light shows we call the Northern Lights.
It’s also far away from heavy concentrations of power lines, which can interfere with the sensitive instruments that detect space weather’s effects on the ground.
“When there's a changing magnetic field of the Earth, that's going to induce a current in the ground, and that's primarily what I both measure and model with my research,” Cordell said.
Space weather can have huge impacts
While space weather can appear as beautiful light shows in the sky, it can also have serious and negative impacts on electrical and communications systems, Connors explained.
Space storms have been known to cause significant outages in power systems on Earth, for example. Satellites or even airplanes flying near the North Pole can lose communications due to the increase electromagnetic activity associated with space weather events.
“You might recall that there was, a few years ago, a loss of about 20 satellites, newly launched, and a solar storm came along and affected the atmosphere,” he said. “The atmosphere, in turn affected the satellites, and down they came.”
Learn more about the Athabasca University Geophysical Observatory.
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