BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China's National Center for Space Weather issued a red alert on Saturday morning after detecting a strong geomagnetic storm that is expected to continue throughout the weekend, which will impact communications and navigation in most areas of the country.
The geomagnetic storm, which began at 11:00 p.m. Beijing Time on Friday, reached its peak with a Kp index of 9, the strongest level, the center said, noting that the storm process was expected to continue in the next 24 hours.
The center warned that the ionosphere in most areas of China will be disturbed by the geomagnetic storm, affecting short-wave communication and navigation, and the increased upper atmosphere density will cause orbital decay for low-orbit satellites.
According to space weather experts, a geomagnetic storm is a phenomenon where the Earth's magnetic field is violently disturbed by high-speed coronal ejection material carrying the sun's magnetic field. The storms can disrupt satellite signals and ground communications, impacting deep space exploration, but generally do not affect human health. ■
