{"id":132049,"date":"2025-11-13T00:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T00:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/132049\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T00:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T00:18:13","slug":"geomagnetic-storm-triggers-aurora-display-and-grid-alert-across-south-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/132049\/","title":{"rendered":"Geomagnetic storm triggers aurora display and grid alert across South Island"},"content":{"rendered":"
Transpower issued a grid emergency notice ahead of the storm, explaining the special impact of space weather on power supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpace weather is when the Sun ejects plasma and other matter in Earth\u2019s direction. These coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are rare, and most people won\u2019t notice because our planet\u2019s magnetic field shields us from particles.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCraken’s Rest, Te Waewae Bay, in Southland. Photo \/ Edwin Mabonga<\/p>\n
The resulting geomagnetic storms send currents that \u201chave the potential to cause extensive damage\u201d when they reach substation transformers or large hydroelectric dams.<\/p>\n
Lines in the South Island were taken out of action overnight to protect critical infrastructure from the storm.<\/p>\n
The Southern Lights over Te Anau. Photo \/ Robert Taylor<\/p>\n
Last night\u2019s display was caused by the second of three coronal mass ejections within the last 36 hours, Civil Defence New Zealand said.<\/p>\n
Otautau, Southland. Photo \/ Edwin Mabonga<\/p>\n
Solar storms have become increasingly frequent as the 11-year solar activity cycle hits a new high point. <\/p>\n
The Fortrose coast. Photo \/ Leighton Findlater<\/p>\n
The increased solar activity is expected to continue through the next several years as the cycle reaches a \u201csolar maximum\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Transpower issued a grid emergency notice ahead of the storm, explaining the special impact of space weather on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[2840,41242,95,1102,6924,32565,273,76559,12238,55281,8577,2514,807,685,90808,111,139,2551,69,147,2848,9877,1240,673,90807,3608],"class_list":["post-132049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-across","tag-alert","tag-and","tag-aurora","tag-colours","tag-display","tag-environment","tag-geomagnetic","tag-greeted","tag-grid","tag-horizon","tag-island","tag-kiwis","tag-last","tag-mosaic","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-severe","tag-skies","tag-south","tag-storm","tag-triggers","tag-were"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}