According to researchers at NASA, the system, known as DAGGER, can provide a valuable “30 minutes of advance warning” by analysing satellite data.

The researchers suggest that this warning is enough time to offer countries a crucial window to mitigate the severe consequences of these storms on critical infrastructure, particularly power grids. Actions such as temporarily shutting down sensitive systems or repositioning satellites to different orbits can help mitigate the potential damage.

According to NASA, this prediction system is the first to combine AI analysis with real measurements from space and Earth, enabling frequent updates to the forecasts. 

Solar storms occur when the Sun emits electrically charged plasma known as a coronal mass ejection. These charged particles can lead to geomagnetic storms that interfere with Earth’s protective magnetic field, resulting in blackouts and disruptions to technological systems.

The AI model developed by NASA comes during a time of increased solar activity. Every 11 years, the sun’s magnetic cycle goes into overdrive. The height of this period is known as ‘solar maximum’, which sees a greater number of sunspots, and solar eruptions. 

The AI system establishes correlations between solar wind measurements from previous Sun missions and geomagnetic disturbances observed at ground stations worldwide.

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In today’s highly technology-dependent world, the impact of solar storms has the potential to be increasingly disruptive. Historical events serve as reminders of the severe consequences. With past solar storms being powerful enough to lead to school and business closures, as well as sparking fires.

NASA’s DAGGER, has demonstrated its ability to predict geomagnetic disturbances accurately and rapidly on a global scale, providing a significant advantage of a 30-minute advance warning before the storms occur.

The system was tested successfully against two past geomagnetic storms in August 2011 and March 2015, which confirmed the model’s effectiveness in forecasting the storms’ impacts worldwide.