Two days ago, a pair of huge coronal mass ejections (CMEs) left the Sun and headed for Earth. This morning at around 10:00 am Eastern time the massive magnetic bubbles of gas slammed into the Earth's atmosphere, interacting with our magnetic field and creating a geomagnetic storm that NOAA classifies as severe. Geomagnetic storms are ranked from G1 to G5, with G5 being the highest. Today's storm was classified as a G4.
A major storm is about to dump between one and three feet of snow on the Northeast region over the next few days. This image, captured by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite GOES 13, shows the beginning stages of the storm on Monday morning.
"Today the wreck is broken and filled with mud, and it is a sealed grave in fast, dangerous waters in the main shipping lanes," James Delgado, director of maritime heritage for NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries said in a press release.
NASA is deploying flight missions equipped with hyperspectral imaging instruments similar to those intended to distinguish dust components on Mars. The technology is being used to identify the components of algal blooms affecting the Western Basin of Lake Erie. The highly sensitive imaging instruments use spectral signatures to assign unique markers to each element and allow scientists to distinguish harmful algae from beneficial algae.
Generations before anyone came up with the idea of "citizen science," an 18-year-old Richard Hendrickson called in his first weather report to what was then the U.S. Weather Bureau. That was in 1929. Hendrickson is now 101 years old and has provided the National Weather Service with twice-daily observations from his Long Island farm for 84 years.