ISRO: Aditya-L1, Chandrayaan-2 capture signatures of solar storm

A powerful solar storm unleashed its fury upon Earth in early May, originating from the highly active region AR13664 on the Sun's surface.This cosmic event, marked by a series of flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), proved to be the most intense geomagnetic storm since 2003, wreaking havoc on communication and GPS systems globally.

The geomagnetic storm index (Kp) surged to its maximum level of 9, and a very strong X-class flare with a magnitude of 5.8 was recorded. Spaceborne assets of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) captured the signatures ofthe solar storm that was felt worldwide, with trans-polar flights already being rerouted due to the heightened risks posed by the storm.

However, India experienced relatively lesser effects, owing to the timing of the storm's peak when the ionosphere was not fully developed. "Being at lower latitudes, widespread outages haven't been reported in India. Ionosphere was very turbulent over the Pacific and American sectors," ISRO said.

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Ground-based observations provided crucial insights into the event's effects on Earth's atmosphere.

The GNSS network observations at the National Atmospheric Research Laboratoryat Gadanki, Andhra Pradesh showeddecreases in Total Electron Content (TEC) which later increased, indicating disturbances in the ionosphere.

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The Aditya-L1 also provided valuable data on solar wind dynamics while Chandrayaan-2 gave the signatures of this solar storm from the lunar polar orbit.

"The ISRO Navigation Centre has not noticed any significant degradation in the NaVIC service metrices till now, indicating no or negligible impact from the geomagnetic storm," ISRO said in a press release.

Satellite orbit decay rates

The aftermath of the solar storm is not without consequences. Satellite orbit decay rates, which refers to the gradual decrease in altitude of a satellite orbiting the Earth due to various factors, also witnessed an increase.

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"In general, the orbit decay of all satellites increased by 5 to 6 times compared to nominal value on 11 May 2024," the Indian space agency said.

Explaining the decay, ISRO said, "During solar events like this, the energy released from the Sun heats and expands the upper atmosphere. This increased atmospheric density at satellite altitudes creates more drag on satellites, causing them to lose altitude gradually. This effect is most pronounced for satellites in low-Earth orbit."

(With inputs from agencies)