The Earth is already full of problems of its own. Dealing with more space and solar issues is not something that humanity wants to face anytime soon. While it is impossible for the Sun to be taken down or altogether avoided, humanity may be able to find a way to know when strong solar flares will send signals that disrupt Earth's very own terrestrial signals.
Solar Storm Early Warning System
This is something that NASA has been working on with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). According to Science Alert, NASA has been trying out AI models with data from solar storms in order to come up with an early warning system. This system may potentially give the Earth a 30-minute notice before a potentially murderous solar storm hits a particular region.
Such notice can be attributed to the fact that light is faster compared to the material that is ejected by the Sun during such events. In certain events, such as the one that hit Quebec over 30 years ago, power can be cut for a couple of hours.
This early warning system covers data from AI and NASA satellites. Some of these include the Wind, ACE, Geotail, and IMP-8 satellites.
Fast and Accurate Predictions
However, to come up with a predictive model, it is important to narrow down factors for the model to accurately predict what it is meant to. Knowing that a storm is on the way is just one aspect of the prediction; specialists must also be able to know the kind of impact that may result.
Hence, the specialists also gathered data from ground-based stations that were impacted by certain storms picked up by satellites.
The specialists then developed DAGGER, a computer model that may quickly and accurately predict geomagnetic disruptions across the globe, as noted by NASA. Unlike other algorithms that tried to pull off the same efforts, DAGGER has a notable speed boost. The researchers claim that the model is capable of predicting a solar storm's direction and severity in a single second. They also claim that the model can make predictions every minute.
The issue of timeliness may affect the remaining period for preparation. However, more than that, it also makes it hard to pinpoint the exact region where the storm may hit. This is another step that DAGGER was able to take, as it can quickly conduct predictions over the whole surface of the Earth.
Tech Crunch reports that they used data based on geomagnetic storms that hit the planet in 2015 and 2011. By analyzing and testing them out, they found that the DAGGER could accurately and quickly forecast global effects.
This fast prediction speed and capacity to apply it to the whole Earth make the DAGGER a vital milestone in predicting and accurately responding to potential solar storm hazards. Science Alert also adds that the DAGGER is launching on a platform that is open-source. This comes just in time, as the Sun is moving towards its peak in 2025.
Because of this, communication and utility firms have a few years for DAGGER to be integrated into their alert systems.
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