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Revealing Novel Connections Between Space Weather and the Power Grid: Network Analysis of Ground-Based Magnetometer and Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GIC) Measurements
  • +7
  • Joseph Hughes,
  • Ryan Michael McGranaghan,
  • Adam C Kellerman,
  • Jacob Bortnik,
  • Robert Arritt,
  • Karthik Venkataramani,
  • Charles H Perry,
  • Jackson C McCormick,
  • Chigomezyo M Ngwira,
  • Morris B. Cohen
Joseph Hughes
ASTRA

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Ryan Michael McGranaghan
Atmosphere and Space Technology Research Associates
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Adam C Kellerman
University of California Los Angeles
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Jacob Bortnik
University of California Los Angeles
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Robert Arritt
EPRI
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Karthik Venkataramani
Atmospheric and Space Technology Research Associates
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Charles H Perry
EPRI
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Jackson C McCormick
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Chigomezyo M Ngwira
Atmospheric and Space Technology Research Associates
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Morris B. Cohen
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Abstract

The growing depth and breadth of available data that span the solar-terrestrial environment place us at a tipping point – the potential of these data is immense but realizing that potential requires a new representation. A new network-based approach to represent data collected by power utilities along with information from the solar-terrestrial connection is used. The progress is generated as part of a new project within the National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator program: “The Convergence Hub for the Exploration of Space Science (CHESS).” Results are shared from current data provided through the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) SUNBURST project linked to magnetometer data from the Super Magnetometer Initiative. These data are transformed into a network with GIC measurements and magnetometers as the nodes in order to answer a long-standing question: “How much more likely are deviations from the average current when there is active space weather”? To answer this question, periods of active space weather are identified in the magnetometer data, and these are compared to times of DC transients in the GIC data. The probability of a these transients is found to be , on average, 1.6 times higher during periods of active space weather than during quiet times. The most indicative magnetometers of these DC transients are often not the closest to where the GICs are measured.
Feb 2022Published in Space Weather volume 20 issue 2. 10.1029/2021SW002727