X1.1 solar flare with earth-directed CME

Saturday, 23 March 2024 13:36 UTC

An impressive asymmetrical full halo coronal mass ejection (CME) was launched during the event. It is highly likely that the resulting coronal mass ejection will arrive at Earth despite the bulk of the CME heading more northwards. An impact is expected somewhere during the second half of Monday, 25 March. A clear CME impact signature is likely once the cloud arrives at the DSCOVR and ACE satellites. Geomagnetic storming up to the moderate G2 level, perhaps even the strong G3 level, can be expected which would equal a Kp-value of seven. This would be strong enough for aurora to be visible from places like England, Belgium, northern Germany, southern New Zealand and states in the United States like Utah and Colorado.

We also briefly reached the moderate S2 solar radiation storm threshold around 12 UTC. This creates issues with HF radio propagation at arctic latitudes and some satellites might experience infrequent single-event upsets.

The complex eruption between sunspot regions 3614 and 3615 that took place today at 01:33 UTC peaked at X1.1 It is associated with an asymmetrical full halo coronal mass ejection.

It is highly likely that the resulting coronal mass ejection will arrive at Earth despite the bulk… pic.twitter.com/HZDZqZhRhK

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) March 23, 2024

Sunspot region 3615 remains a very complex sunspot region and more X-class activity is not impossible. It is crackling with non-eruptive M-class solar flares at the moment! Watch this sunspot region!

Did you know that you can easily analyze yourself just how complex sunspot region 3615 really is by visiting our sunspot region page? Just use the slider to switch back and forth between the region's magnetic layout and spot layout in visible light!

Go check it out at… pic.twitter.com/4W06KLaow3

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) March 23, 2024