The Aemet highlights that this is a “very unusual” event resulting from severe geomagnetic storms.
MADRID, 11 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
On Friday night, Spain suffered severe geomagnetic storms that have allowed the northern lights to be observed in various parts of the country, such as Catalonia, Madrid, the Valencian Community, Mallorca and Andalusia, a “very unusual” event on the Peninsula. , as recognized by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) in X.
These northern lights have occurred at very low latitudes in the northern hemisphere. In the case of Spain, Aemet justifies the presence of this phenomenon because solar activity is “very intense.”
“Coronal mass ejections or atmospheric solar flares can intensify the solar wind and reach the Earth’s magnetosphere, triggering a geomagnetic storm,” they detail.
During these phenomena, the auroral oval temporarily widens, allowing auroras to be seen from lower latitudes.
According to eltiempo.es, a geomagnetic solar storm of this “extreme” magnitude has not been experienced since 2003. For example, from the Community of Madrid, the pink sky has been able to be seen from the mountains, since light pollution is less intense. In addition, very explicit northern lights could also be observed from Segovia and Salamanca, in Castilla y León.
In the case of Mallorca, the auroras have acquired a reddish tone and in Andalusia they have been best observed in Almería or Cádiz. The Calar Alto Astronomical Observatory, in Almería, has reported the phenomenon. “Once again we are honored with its presence by the northern lights in Calar Alto,” he published in X.
Likewise, the electromagnetic phenomenon, typical of the polar regions, has been captured in the Valencian Community early on Friday night by webcams in the municipalities of Xert, Forcall and Benicássim, in Castellón de la Plana; Camporrobles, in Valencia; and Altea and Villena, in Alicante. According to the Valencian Association of Meteorology (Avamet), the reddish light in the night sky could be seen looking in a northeasterly direction.
According to Aemet, the aurora borealis (polar lights of the northern hemisphere) is a phenomenon of atmospheric electricity (electrometeor) “consisting of a luminous phenomenon that appears in the upper layers of the atmosphere in the form of arcs, bands, curtains, etc.” .
It details that, unlike usual meteorological phenomena, they form much higher than the troposphere, normally at an altitude of between 90 and 150 kilometers.
“Auroras appear due to the interaction between the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic field. The solar wind is stronger at times close to maximum solar activity, which occurs in cycles of between 10 and 12 years,” says Aemet. .
Currently, we are close to the maximum of solar activity, so the polar auroras are due to the presence of electrically charged particles ejected from the sun (the solar wind), which act on the rarefied gases in the upper layers of the atmosphere. Thus, a geomagnetic storm is triggered, allowing auroras to be perceived from lower latitudes.