Revealing Novel Connections Between Space Weather and the Power Grid: Network Analysis of Ground‐Based Magnetometer and Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GIC) Measurements

Hughes, Joseph; McGranaghan, Ryan; Kellerman, Adam; Bortnik, J.; Arrit, Robert F.; Venkataramani, Karthik; Perry, Charles H.; McCormick, J.; Ngwira, Chigomezyo M.; Cohen, M. B.

doi:10.1029/2021sw002727

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…It is worth noting that many more sudden disturbances in the electric grid in Thrace occurred during the recovery phase of the March 2012 storm (Figures 10 and 11), which may suggest a preference for this phenomenon for slowly varying (quasi-DC) fields. A similar pattern can also be seen in the cases of the Geomagnetically Induced Currents estimated during the August and November 2018 magnetic storms recently studied by Hughes et al [115] (their Figures 3 and 14).…”

Section: Sudden Voltage Changes On the Electric Power Grid In Thrace ...supporting

confidence: 81%

Ground Electric Field, Atmospheric Weather and Electric Grid Variations in Northeast Greece Influenced by the March 2012 Solar Activity and the Moderate to Intense Geomagnetic Storms

Anagnostopoulos,

Karkanis,

Kampatagis

et al. 2024

Remote Sensing

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In a recent paper, we extended a previous study on the solar solar influence to the generation of the March 2012 heatwave in the northeastern USA. In the present study we check the possible relationship of solar activity with the early March 2012 bad weather in northeast Thrace, Greece. To this end, we examined data from various remote sensing instrumentation monitoring the Sun (SDO satellite), Interplanetary space (ACE satellite), the Earth’s magnetosphere (Earth-based measurements, NOAA-19 satellite), the top of the clouds (Terra and Aqua satellites), and the near ground atmosphere. Our comparative data analysis suggests that: (i) the winter-like weather (rainfall, fast winds, decreased temperature) in Thrace started on 6 March 2012, the same day as the heatwave started in USA, (ii) during the March 2012 winter-like event in Thrace (6–15 March), the ACE satellite recorded enhanced fluxes of solar energetic particles (SEPs), while SOHO and PAMELA recorded solar protons at very high energies (>500 MeV), (iii) Between 3–31 March, the temperature in Alexandoupoli and the ACE/EPAM solar high energy (1.88–4.70 MeV) proton flux were strongly anticorelated (r = −0.75, p = 0.5). (iv) Thrace experienced particularly intense cyclonic circulation, during periods of magnetic storms on 8–10 and 12–13 March, which occurred after the arrival at ACE of two interplanetary shock waves, on March 8 and March 11, respectively, (v) at the beginning of the two above mentioned periods large atmospheric electric fields were recorded, with values ranging between ~−2000 V/m and ~1800 V/m on 8 March, (vi) the winter-like weather on 8–10 March 2012 occurred after the detection of the main SEP event related with a coronal mass ejection released in interplanetary space as a result of intense solar flare activity observed by SDO on 7 March 2012, (vi) the 8–10 March weather was related with a deep drop of ~63 °C in the cloud top temperature measured by MODIS/Terra, which favors strong precipitation. Finally, we analyzed data from the electric power network in Thrace (~41°N) and we found, for the first time sudden voltage changes of ~3.5 kV in the electric grid in Greece, during the decay phase of the March 2012 storm series. We discuss the winter-like March 2012 event in Thrace regarding the influence of solar cosmic rays on the low troposphere mediated by positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Finally, we infer that the novel finding of the geomagnetic effects on the electric power grid in Thrace may open a new window into space weather applications research.

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Section: Sudden Voltage Changes On the Electric Power Grid In Thrace ...supporting

confidence: 81%

Ground Electric Field, Atmospheric Weather and Electric Grid Variations in Northeast Greece Influenced by the March 2012 Solar Activity and the Moderate to Intense Geomagnetic Storms

Anagnostopoulos,

Karkanis,

Kampatagis

et al. 2024

Remote Sensing

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“…For example, in a social network the nodes are people and the edges are the relationships with one another. As the network structure is remarkably representative of the natural world (Kauffman and Kauffman, 1993), thinking of a system in this way can lead to new and useful insights for Heliophysics (Dods et al, 2015;McGranaghan et al, 2017b;Hughes et al, 2022).…”

Section: The Methods Of Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of heliophysics: Complexity, community, and open science

McGranaghan¹

2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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Responding to the grand challenges that confront the Earth and Space Sciences requires an embrace of methods from the field of complexity and systems science that can adapt our thinking and our science to be more inter- and cross-disciplinary and enable broader connection across individuals, teams, communities, and sciences. Culturally, as scientifically, broader disciplinary approaches are imperative. The cultural challenge is the disconnect that exists between groups. These disconnects preclude plurality in discussions, harm creativity and innovation, and give rise to a palpable malaise, especially at the early career stage. Together, the scientific and cultural grand challenges we describe point to a need for a new set of literacies and curriculum that the advent of open science supports–increased cross-disciplinarity, team science that generates community connections, plurality and inclusion in our science and in how we connect.

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“…In the past these devices are typically expensive to install and maintain across a large network. However, they are becoming more common in recent years as legislative monitoring requirements come into place and hardware becomes cheaper (Hughes et al., 2022). With the notable exception of the South Island of New Zealand where over 50 GIC monitoring sites are currently installed (Marshall et al., 2012; Rodger et al., 2017), only a few other countries report large scale deployment and/or accessibility to direct GIC data (e.g., Albert et al., 2022; Blake et al., 2018; Butala et al., 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validating a UK Geomagnetically Induced Current Model Using Differential Magnetometer Measurements

Hübert,

Beggan,

Richardson

et al. 2024

Space Weather

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Extreme space weather can damage ground‐based infrastructure such as power lines, railways and gas pipelines through geomagnetically induced currents (GICs). Modeling GICs requires knowledge about the source magnetic field and the electrical conductivity structure of the Earth to calculate ground electric fields during enhanced geomagnetic activity. The electric field, in combination with detailed information about the power grid topology, enable the modeling of GICs in high‐voltage (HV) power lines. Directly monitoring GICs in substations is possible with a Hall probe, but scarcely realized in the UK. Therefore we deployed the differential magnetometer method (DMM) to measure GICs at 12 sites in the UK power grid. The DMM includes the installation of two fluxgate magnetometers, one directly under a power line affected by GICs, and one as a remote site. The difference in recordings of the magnetic field at each instrument yields an estimate of the GICs in the respective power line segment via the Biot‐Savart law. We collected data across the UK in 2018–2022, monitoring HV line segments where previous research indicated high GIC risk. We recorded magnetometer data during several smaller storms that allow detailed analysis of our GIC model. For the ground electric field computations we used recent magnetotelluric (MT) measurements recorded close to the DMM sites. Our results show that there is strong agreement in both amplitude and signal shape between measured and modeled line and substation GICs when using our HV model and the realistic electric field estimates derived from MT data.

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Revealing Novel Connections Between Space Weather and the Power Grid: Network Analysis of Ground‐Based Magnetometer and Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GIC) Measurements

Cited by 4 publications

References 45 publications

Ground Electric Field, Atmospheric Weather and Electric Grid Variations in Northeast Greece Influenced by the March 2012 Solar Activity and the Moderate to Intense Geomagnetic Storms

Ground Electric Field, Atmospheric Weather and Electric Grid Variations in Northeast Greece Influenced by the March 2012 Solar Activity and the Moderate to Intense Geomagnetic Storms

The evolution of heliophysics: Complexity, community, and open science

Validating a UK Geomagnetically Induced Current Model Using Differential Magnetometer Measurements

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