C3.1 solar flare, Earth-directed CME

Friday, 11 March 2022 16:54 UTC

An unexpected eruption from an otherwise unimpressive sunspot region. The solar flare lasted for hours and launched an asymmetrical full halo coronal mass ejection into space. Most of the ejecta is heading north-west but a significant part of the plasma cloud is expected to arrival at our planet. The coronal mass ejection was launched at a speed of about 600km/s which is a fairly average speed. This puts the likely arrival time at Earth late on Sunday, 13 March. Minor G1 geomagnetic storm conditions (Kp5) are likely with a chance of moderate G2 conditions which equals a Kp-value of 6. Middle latitude locations might catch a glimpse of the aurora near the northern (or southern) horizon under optimal conditions.

A long duration C2 solar flare launched an asymmetrical full halo coronal mass ejection into space. The solar plasma cloud is likely to arrive at Earth late on Sunday, 13 March. Minor G1 geomagnetic storm conditions are likely with a chance of moderate G2 conditions. pic.twitter.com/cl1hqR7i69

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) March 11, 2022

Here is the latest ENLIL solar wind model run from the NOAA SWPC showing the predicted path and arrival time of yesterday's full halo coronal mass ejection. The plasma cloud is expected to arrived late on Sunday, 13 March. pic.twitter.com/Hk4vg6WvRg

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) March 11, 2022