Did you know? Here’s a space weather and radio...

Did you know? Here’s a space weather and radio propagation educational tidbit – from http://SunSpotWatch.com – at 14:00 UTC on 2017-06-28:

The solar wind carries with it the magnetic field of the Sun; will have either a North or South orientation. The Sun’s magnetic field riding on the solar wind is called the Interplanetary Magnetic Field, or, IMF. The IMF, riding the Solar Wind, has a magnetic polarity; North and South, measured, reported as ‘Bz’.

The polarity of the IMF, riding the Solar Wind, is reported as its 'Bz’, and is negative, positive, or zero (0). It is a number that is negative (Southward oriented), or positive (Northward).

The IMF will “reconnect” magnetically with the Earth’s magnetosphere if the Bz is negative (IMF=southward). If the solar wind takes a southward polarization (Bz = negative), geomagnetic storms can be expected.

During a geomagnetic storm, the ionosphere’s F2 layer will become unstable, fragment, and may even disappear.

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