SA Space Agency records several geomagnetic storms impacting Earth

The South African National Space Agency (Sansa) campus in Hermanus in the Western Cape has recorded several geomagnetic storms, which occur when plasma from the sun interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field.

Sansa communications practitioner Daleen Fouché told The Citizen that G1 (minor) and G2 (moderate) storms have been observed in the past 36 hours.

“Effects of these storms may not be immediately known and can include interruptions to high-frequency radio communication, navigation issues and compounding impacts on power grids”

Geomagnetic storms

Fouché said that last year, there were two significant geomagnetic storms in May and October when the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) were visible from South Africa—a very rare occurrence.

“During these storms, some disruptions to drone and flight operations were reported, caused by navigation interruptions.

“The sun has a cycle of about 11 years, with active and quiet periods. Currently, we are heading into Solar Maximum, and the Sansa forecasters have been monitoring a lot of activity on the Sun,” Fouché said.

ALSO READ: SA space agency warns geomagnetic storms to impact Earth over weekend, expect disruptions

Space weather

Fouché said that space weather forecasters monitor space weather to help protect technological systems from explosions on the sun.

“Space weather originates from the Sun, and although humans are protected from these storms, our technological systems may be at risk.

Sun activity

The Sansa Space Weather forecasters monitor the Sun on a 24/7 basis from a state-of-the-art Space Weather Centre.

From here, they watch for solar flares—flashes of light on the Sun—and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are explosions of plasma from the Sun.

When this plasma is hurled into space and interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field, it can disrupt technological systems such as navigation and communications and even damage power grid systems.

Lunar eclipse

Meanwhile, South Africans watched a rare spectacle of a partial view of a total lunar eclipse early on Friday morning.

However, with the current weather conditions, it is unlikely that South Africans will be able to get a glimpse of the lunar eclipse.

The total lunar eclipse began on 13-14 March 2025, when the moon cast a deep, coppery-red hue.

Visibility

This eclipse was observable from the Earth’s Western Hemisphere. But South Africans only got a partial view of the blood moon.

The lunar eclipse reached its maximum phase, whereby the moon was fully obscured by Earth’s deepest darkest shadow, the umbra, at 2:59 a.m. EDT (8:59 SA Time) on March 14.

Totality—the period when the moon was completely engulfed in Earth’s shadow lasted approximately 65 minutes.

This was the first total lunar eclipse since November 2022.

ALSO READ: SA takes giant leap with Prime telescope to enhance exoplanet discovery [VIDEO]