Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau issued a space weather warning message today, alerting to disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field that could reach a moderate geomagnetic storm level for a brief period. This disturbance is expected to last for 24 hours starting from 2 a.m. on the 2nd of September. Satellite navigation and both low and high-frequency radio communications may experience temporary disruptions.
According to the Central Weather Bureau’s Space Weather Operations Office, a significant increase in interplanetary environmental conditions is forecasted to begin at 2 a.m. tomorrow, with the geomagnetic disturbance index (Kp) reaching G3 level and lasting approximately 24 hours.
The bureau explained that due to a long-duration M-class solar flare occurring on August 31st in the active region AR4199 of the Sun, accompanied by a substantial coronal mass ejection event, it is expected to pass through the near-Earth space environment on the 2nd of September, causing a significant increase in solar wind speed and density in interplanetary space.
Based on NOAA’s WSA-Enlil model data analysis, it is estimated that the geomagnetic disturbance will significantly intensify and continue to impact for about 24 hours, with the maximum scale potentially briefly reaching a moderate geomagnetic storm level (Kp=7, G3).
The Central Weather Bureau predicts that the effects of this event may include temporary interruptions in satellite navigation and low to high-frequency radio communications. Aurora activity could occur at latitudes as low as 50 degrees, and some protective devices may experience false alarms necessitating voltage adjustments. Accumulation of electric charges may be observed in certain satellite systems, increasing the flight drag of low-earth orbit satellites and necessitating attitude corrections.
The Central Weather Bureau stated that due to the drastic increase in the active region of the solar surface, a radio interference event occurred at 3:28 p.m. this afternoon, lasting for approximately 10 minutes.