North Vs. South?

[AbeH]

So say we had a G5 Solar flare would both poles be equally affected? Or would one side receive more power than the other. Im just curious.

[Vancanneyt Sander]

During a G5 Geomagnetic storm, the whole magnetic field suffers from the violent solar wind buffeting the Earths magnetic field, the whole field protects us from it so both poles will also have lots of energy they get into the Van Allen belt. Will there be difference, yes. Is it a big difference? No i don't think it will because the overall pressure on our field is pretty equal on both poles (that's what magnets do).

In the image above we have a G4 geomagnetic storm where you can see the Earth and it's magnetic field in the upper left corner, the pressure on the magnetic field in the upper right. Down right you'll see the solar wind exceeding 800km/sec with a direction of the IMF strong south for a prolonged period.

[AbeH]

I guess on the topic of the magnetic field this might be a stupid question but would it be possible for the magnetic field to completely break due to so much stress at once? Sorry if I sound stupid but just trying to get these question out of my head.

[Vancanneyt Sander]

It won't break, it only gets pushed in by the buffeting solar wind and it just builds up pressure not more. Because of the pressure, the height of our natural shield gets lower and high orbit satellites become unprotected from the shield so that protons slam into the satellite making dat unreliable or even can get a satellite out of control (for protective measures satellite operators can push satellites higher up or lower in orbit to be more safe from those radiation)

[Maxime Fiset]

Well, this thread is live, and I've been wondering :

 

Bz is an axis of the Earth's magnetic field (if I got it right), okay. But is there a better way to explain it? How low can it plunge? How high can it bounce back? What about the other axes? 

[Vancanneyt Sander]

No, Bz is the direction of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field, because it's a vector quantity with a three directional component Bx By and the direction Bz. So it is not the Earths magnetic field. Read our article about the IMF here.

In the above image you'll see the Sun, from where the open magnetic field lines of the sun stretch out far into space, these are dragged out by the solar wind that flows from our star. When a coronal mass ejection happens, this fields gets pushed along with the shockwave. It is squished together like in a car accident where the total field strength rises and the direction of the three-dimensional vector differentiates. This is also the reason why the direction of the IMF in the beginning of a CME shock is very fluctuative before flowing into a prolonged period of stable direction.

[Maxime Fiset]

No, Bz is the direction of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field, because it's a vector quantity with a three directional component Bx By and the direction Bz. So it is not the Earths magnetic field. Read our article about the IMF here.

In the above image you'll see the Sun, from where the open magnetic field lines of the sun stretch out far into space, these are dragged out by the solar wind that flows from our star. When a coronal mass ejection happens, this fields gets pushed along with the shockwave. It is squished together like in a car accident where the total field strength rises and the direction of the three-dimensional vector differentiates. This is also the reason why the direction of the IMF in the beginning of a CME shock is very fluctuative before flowing into a prolonged period of stable direction.

That's awesome! Thank you very much! =)

I have found this article, is it as good as yours?

 

http://spaceweather.com/glossary/imf.html

 

I still have a problem understanding the southwards part of the IMF. Basically, when the IMF is "South", it's negative Bz, and it means the IMF is pointed at the opposite of the Earth's magnetic field, and may give geomagnetic conditions. Is that it?