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In May 2024, our planet was hit by the largest solar storm in 20 years. GPS signals were disrupted, beautiful auroras glowed in the sky—and two new belts of energy appeared around the Earth, as new research shows.
Scientists in the U.S. have announced the discovery of two new temporary belts of energetic particles created by last year’s giant solar storm. They identified the two belts with the help of NASA’s recently resurrected Colorado Inner Radiation Belt Experiment (CIRBE) satellite. As detailed in a February 6 study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, studying these belts, which can be dangerous to astronauts and spacecraft, has important implications for the security of people and technology in space.
“When we compared the data from before and after the storm, I said, ‘Wow, this is something really new,’” Xinlin Li, an aerospace engineer at the University of Colorado Boulder who led the study, said in a NASA statement. “This is really stunning.”
Solar storms occur when the Sun blasts material—including particles, energy, and magnetic fields—into the solar system. While our planet’s magnetic field protects humans on Earth’s surface from solar storms, these storms can still cause radio blackouts and power outages. They can also create temporary belts of energetic particles, which might damage spacecraft that attempt to cross them.
The two new belts formed between the permanent Van Allen Belts, which are made up of high-energy electrons and protons and are held in place by Earth’s magnetic field. While temporary belts have previously been documented in the wake of large solar storms, these recent ones have surprising features.
Past temporary belts primarily consisted of electrons, whereas the recent innermost one also included energetic protons, likely as a result of the solar storm’s strength and composition, according to the researchers. Subsequent large solar storms can sometimes scatter the particles in these temporary belts, but the new ones were also more long-lasting than previous examples.
The one made mostly of electrons lasted over three months, and the innermost one might even still be there today—a persistence bolstered by its location in a more sheltered and stable region. In comparison, other temporary belts remained for only about four weeks.
“These are really high-energy electrons and protons that have found their way into Earth’s inner magnetic environment,” said David Sibeck, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center who was not involved in the new study. “Some might stay in this place for a very long time.”
An instrument inside NASA’s shoebox-shaped CIRBE satellite was essential to the belt’s discovery—after the spacecraft came back online. CIRBE launched to low Earth orbit above the planet’s magnetic poles in April 2023 but then went MIA about a year later, just in time to miss the giant solar storm in May. Disappointed scientists were forced to rely on less accurate measurements from other spacecraft, so they were thrilled when the satellite unexpectedly came back online in June. About time, CIRBE.
“Once we resumed measurements, we were able to see the new electron belt, which wasn’t visible in the data from other spacecraft,” Li explained. “We are very proud that our very small [satellite] made such a discovery,” he added.
Understanding these temporary belts of energized particles is crucial to ensuring the safety of space missions, but this time it came at a price. The solar storm disturbed CIRBE’s orbit, and scientists consequently de-orbited it in October of last year. RIP CIRBE, and thank you for your sacrifice.
