Swedish GICs

The top panel in this plot measures the 'dB/dt' of the Earth's magnetic field. This is a measure of how rapidly in time ,Earths magnetic field is changing near the ground. The real time forecast model of local dB/dt is driven by solar wind data from the ACE spacecraft. The ACE real time data are collected from SEC and the forecast is updated every 10 minutes. The vertical line in the figure below indicates the time of the latest update. During proton events the ACE/SWEPAM instruments often gives incorrect values for the density (n) and velocity (V). Therefore, also included is data from the proton monitor (PM) from the SOHO spacecraft in the plots.

Rapid changes in dB/dt will cause more intense electrical currents to be induced into metal conductors such as gas pipelines and various electrical components in the power grid. This can cause blackouts and higher corrosion rates that can be costly to repair.

Back to Real-time Impacts Monitor