(ORDO NEWS) — The January 9th X-flare did something rare. It brought down the earth’s magnetic field. This impact was recorded by magnetometers in Boulder, Colorado; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Fredericksburg, Virginia.
“Jerk” is circled in yellow. It began around 18:46 UT and was detected by many magnetic observatories on the day side of the Earth during the outburst.
Scientists called this phenomenon “magnetic hook”. The flare radiation ionized the upper part of the Earth’s atmosphere and caused currents to flow at a height of 60 to 100 km above the Earth’s surface.
These currents, in turn, briefly altered the Earth’s magnetic field. A few minutes later everything was back to normal.
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