• Question: How does the solar wind affect Earth?

    Asked by khughes08 to Hermine, Katy, Laura, Nathalie, Paula on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Nathalie Pettorelli

      Nathalie Pettorelli answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Hi there,

      Well cool consequences of solar winds are aurora near by the poles! Satellite-based communication and geomagnetic storm near the poles are then the main disruptive effects caused by solar winds on our planet 😉

    • Photo: Paula Salgado

      Paula Salgado answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      It affects it by the intense clouds of high energy particles that it often contains which are produced by solar storms. When these clouds collide with the magnetic field of the Earth they cause it to change its shape. The particles then leak through the magnetic field of the Earth, particularly near the north and south poles, and cause still more changes to the magnetic field of the Earth, this time closer to the ground. These changes can produce many problems with electrical equipment.

      Hope that helped! (I had a little help from NASA on that one, must admit…) 😉

    • Photo: Laura Dixon

      Laura Dixon answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Solar winds contain high energy particles which cause changes in the magnetic field of the earth when they collide which can cause problems with electrical equipment.

    • Photo: Hermine Schnetler

      Hermine Schnetler answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      A solar wind is a highly magnetically charged high energy wind. They can disrupt satellite communication and cause the occasional geomagnetic storm at the poles that is about the most we get. We can also see them in passing comets and the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis.

    • Photo: Katy Mee

      Katy Mee answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      please refer to my previous answer 😉

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