U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

GIC‐Related Observations During the May 2024 Geomagnetic Storm in the United States



Filetype [PDF - 13.24 MB]

Details

  • Journal Title:
    Space Weather
  • Personal Author:
    Wilkerson, L. A. ORCID ICON IMG ; Weigel, R. S. ORCID ICON IMG ; Thomas, D. ORCID ICON IMG ; Bor, D. ; Oughton, E. J. ORCID ICON IMG ; Gaunt, C. T. ORCID ICON IMG ; Balch, C. C. ; Wiltberger, M. J. ORCID ICON IMG ; Pulkkinen, A. ORCID ICON IMG
  • NOAA Program & Office:
    NWS (National Weather Service) ; CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences) ; SWPC (Space Weather Prediction Center)
  • Description:
    The May 2024 geomagnetic storm was one of the most severe in the past 20 years. Understanding how large geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) impact geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) within electrical power grid networks is key to ensuring their resilience. We have assembled and synthesized a large and unique set of GMD‐related data, compared model predictions with measurements, and identified empirical relationships for GICs in the contiguous United States for this storm. Measurement data include GIC data from 47 sites and magnetometer data from 17 sites. Model data include GIC computed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) power system operators at 4 sites, GIC computed using a reference model at 47 sites, and the difference in the surface magnetic field from a baseline computed at 12 magnetometer sites from three global magnetospheric models-the Multiscale Atmosphere‐Geospace Environment Model (MAGE), Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF), and Open Geospace General Circulation Model (OpenGGCM). GIC measured and computed by TVA had a correlation coefficient and a prediction efficiency between 0.4 and 0.7. The horizontal magnetic field perturbation from a baseline, , computed by MAGE, SWMF, and OpenGGCM had a correlation r from 0.21 to 0.65. Two empirical relationships were considered: (a) how the correlation between measured GIC site pairs depended on differences in site separation distance, scaling factor (related to ground conductivity), and geomagnetic latitude; and (b) a regression model for the maximum magnitude at each site given the product of (related to magnetic latitude) and .
  • Source:
    Space Weather, 24(5)
  • DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.1029/2025sw004758
  • ISSN:
    1542-7390 ; 1542-7390
  • Format:
    pdf
  • Publisher:
    American Geophysical Union (AGU)
  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • License:
    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
  • Rights Information:
    CC BY
  • Compliance:
    Library
  • Download URL:
    https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/74867/noaa_74867_DS1.pdf
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 13.24 MB]
  • Collection(s):
    NOAA Cooperative Institutes ; National Weather Service (NWS)
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:c4dd3cd07010f925b396225042d301efe1b6c29974542a4740abe8ac982e7b2da16f393f8effb98ff7776e0a0e6ec97036ec26ee85da192c6489c9e9cd03aa6b
PREVIOUS
ON THIS PAGE
Details
 Found an issue?
Send us an email at:
noaa.repository@noaa.gov
The NOAA IR serves as an archival repository of NOAA-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by NOAA or funded partners. As a repository, the NOAA IR retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
BACK TO TOP