Northern lights have a sinister side, U of A space storm expert warns
A team of researchers and students in Alberta are continuing to probe the depths of space to better understand the cause and the impact of the aurora borealis, one of nature’s most beautiful cosmic displays.
“People think the northern lights are this beautiful, ethereal thing that they can relate to on a human or spiritual level, but at the same time, they may not realize that the space weather that creates this fantastic phenomenon also poses a serious threat to our society,” Ian Mann, professor of physics at the University of Alberta, said Tuesday.
Ultimately, Mann said, the aurora borealis is caused by disturbances coming from our sun, nearly 150 million kilometres away.
“A serious space storm could disrupt power grids on Earth, causing damage in the trillions (of dollars) and taking years to recover from.
“We need to understand how space storms work, the impacts and the threats, and then be able to mitigate against them.”
Mann, who chairs the United Nations Expert Group on space weather, and his students and colleagues generate scientific data through various ground monitoring stations. That work is in partnership with major international space agency satellite missions, as well as via ExAlta-1, the AlbertaSat cube satellite built by University of Alberta students that is currently orbiting Earth’s magnetosphere.
“We have the most accessible land mass underneath the auroral zone anywhere on the planet, so it almost behooves us as Canadians to exploit our geographic advantage to pursue space research in our backyard.”