Currently, only moderate effects have been felt, but the magnetic field of the CME is dynamic and has the potential to change.

 

“The coronal mass ejection has a cloud of particles, but also embedded in that is a magnetic field structure,” said Rodney Viereck, director of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Test. “As the CME passes over Earth, the magnetic field strength and direction in interplanetary space will change direction and change strength. If that magnetic field direction goes southward, there’s good connectivity, and energy in the CME gets translated very efficiently through the magnetosphere to Earth and we get a big storm.”

 

Right now, there are some signs that show the southward part of the magnetic field may be approaching, but it’s still too soon to tell, Viereck added.

 

So far today, no major disturbances have been reported, but several space probes likely experienced high doses of radiation from the onslaught of charged particles. A European spacecraft in orbit around Venus, for example, was temporarily blinded by high radiation, officials at the European Space Agency confirmed today.

 

Official reports also showed that several commercial airlines, including Delta Airlines, took caution by re-routing flights that would normally have taken aircraft near or over Earth’s polar caps, Viereck said.

 

“Commercial airlines have diverted some flights away from the poles,” he said. “For instance, New York to Beijing — those flights do get diverted because the communication to talk from the cockpit down to the ground can get disrupted by these sorts of events. So, in order to remain in good communication on the ground, they have to skirt around the high latitudes.” [Anatomy of Sun Storms & Solar Flares]