The geomagnetic storm I witnessed in Iceland on Oct 10 led to perhaps one of the brightest auroral events I had ever witnessed. Even with my eyes blinded by the headlights while driving, I could still see the reds and the pinks in the sky. The splash of color in the sky danced and morphed continuously, highlighting an intensity of storm that was off the charts. A few moments later, when I stopped to take a look, the bulk of the auroral activity was occurring in the southern half of the skies.
I had never seen such bright band of red span across the entire sky from east to west. These colors show up rarely and only during intense storms where the charged solar particles react with Oxygen above 200mi (320km). The typical aurora with green hues occurs from this same reaction occurring at much lower altitudes (60-190mi or 100-300km). This is also why you see the greens band below the reds.
This storm continued for the entire night, though it ebbed and flowed throughout. I was glad I had an opportunity to witness this.
Fjallsárlón
Iceland
And the Curtains part
I distinctly remember where I was when I heard about the May 11 G4 geomagnetic storm that would go on to create auroral displays in nearly all the states in the US. It was a slow-moving storm, and that gave enough time to evaluate locations to catch the aurora. This G4 storm earlier this month came with much less warning and lead-time. This fast moving storm would impact earth in just 24 hrs after it was detected. Were I in the US at that time, I would have struggled to find the right location to shoot it, but I happened to be in Iceland at that time. And while October usually results in changing weather patterns, I happened to be just an hour away from locations with 360 views, fairly calm conditions and very little light pollution.
The intensity of the storm was such that, even with my eyes blinded by headlights, the deep red glow was visible as clear as day as the storm was starting to build up. I pulled over, anticipating a sub-storm that would blow up the sky. And it did. As the intensity of the storm peaked, beams of light stretched from the coronal center all the way to the peaks in the horizon. It was as though the curtains of the sky had parted, and brilliant multi-colored light hiding behind the jeweled night sky filtered from the heavens.
The storm would continue for many more hours of that long night, with periods of quiet interlude between sudden showers of light. Nearly a decade since my first aurora, I couldn't believe that I would get to witness such an incredible spectacle so many more times. It was a night I wouldn't forget for a long time.
Kalfafellsstadur
Iceland
Light of the night
The mother of all solar storms slammed the planet on May 9th. I even briefly observed the Kp scale going down to an unheard level of Kp9. The strength of the storm was 4x of the typical that I had witness in the PNW in the past. And it wasn't just one event, it was a train of half a dozen storms that impinged the planet in that timeframe. And during the height of these impacts, the auroral displays were observed as far south as Mexico, Austria and India, and as far north as Australia.
The internet has been flooded with plenty of images of this event over the past few days. Here is my contribution to this, an example of how the faint glow in the sky was really a dazzling spectrum of colors that arced all over.
North Cascades National Park
WA USA
Rainbow skies
I am still on a high from Friday night.
I had an inkling of how auroras appear out in the PNW: a few pillars of hazy light show up on the northern horizon, lasting a few seconds before disappearing, with the entire show lasting an hour at most.
But last nights G4 storm was something else: a once in 20-year storm that hits intensity levels enough to bring the aurora down to the mid latitudes. And so while we were watching the northern front, the display of lights happened overhead instead. It was strong enough to bring the entire rainbow of colors from exciting Nitrogen (pink), Hydrogen, Helium (blue and violet) and high altitude Oxygen (red).
This Mother's day spectacle is something that I will not forget for a while. It rivaled the display I had seen many years ago in Iceland. Will there be more this year? That is a million dollar question
North Cascades National Park
WA USA
Chasing the Light
The recent Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) event last week populated the airwaves and social media with stories of possible auroras visible as far south as Oregon and California. However, it was all for nought, as the electromagnetic storm weakened significantly before nightfall on the west coast. While Alaska and northern Canada witnessed spectacular displays of the aurora, it was far more quieter down south.
Here is a snap of a spectacular display from last year, captured around the same time. While the entire night wasn't as colorful, there were brief moments where the pillars of heaven reached down to illuminate the earth.
Quincy
WA USA
Skydance
It is rare in the lower 48 states of the USA that one gets to shoot the aurora borealis. And even when it appears, it is not as bright as what you get to see near the Arctic (Alaska, Iceland, Norway etc). And long exposures, and timelapses of the long exposures are probably the best way to visualize the dance of the northern lights.
Here is one such from the recent auroras that appeared through March and April. I hope I get to see more of these next year.
Prosser
WA USA
Music: Bensound
License code: 9HSZBLJQSJMKEODF
Pillars of Heaven
After the aurora storm last Month, I wasn't expecting to see another storm until end of the year. So when the aurora indices were picking up another storm earlier this week, I was certainly surprised. But PNW showed of its true spirit by hiding the entire state under clouds right that night. Thankfully, I spotted an opening in eastern Washington, a good 3+hrs from home.
I weighed my options on whether to make the long journey through the night, and whether the show would be worth sacrificing productivity on Monday. Thankfully, the fore-casted window in the clouds stayed for the most part, and the fore-casted aurora painted the sky with colors. This is one of the many frames I shot while doing a timelapse to capture the dance of the night sky.
Prosser
WA USA
Skydance
With cloud cover predicted for most of Washington on that fateful night, I was not particularly hopeful in capturing the aurora. Despite the low probability, I drove through a treacherous winter storm hitting Snoqualmie pass and hunted around the central Washington for a dark place with clear opening to the north. I finally found a dark canal bank with a possible opening. And within moments of spreading out the tripod, the aurora showed its true colors, with pillars rising so high above me that even the vertical composition couldn't capture its full height. If it were any clearer, the camera would have been saturated with the auroral glow.
After that high, I was dreading the drive back. The winter storm over Snoqualmie pass had become even more intense, with a layer of sleet and ice covering miles of the highway. Lack of any traffic meant that there was no help around if I had a spinout. If not for that heightened alert level after the aurora, I would not have made it home safely. Hopefully this occurs again before the PNW settles into its summer.
Quincy
WA USA
Say Hi to Steve
It was one for the books. Seeing the aurora borealis in action helped fill a nostalgic hole left by a trip to Iceland six years ago. And I would have almost missed it since skies all over the Pacific Northwest was cloud. And if not for my gut instinct prompting me to just sacrifice sleep to go witness this, I most certainly would have.
As luck would have it, I also managed to see STEVE for the very first time. STEVE, which stands for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, is different from a bog-standard aurora in that it is a thin ribbon of purplish-white light that forms further south of the northern lights. When I first saw this band of light dancing above me in the sky, I first mistook it for the aurora before realizing that the actual lights were showing up in the northern horizon. Here is one of the many captures of STEVE near a dark alley east of the Cascades.
Ellensburg
WA USA