NASA’s AI-powered model may send solar storm warning 30 minutes in advance

AI model provides 30 minutes advance alert

DAGGER is a model that combines the power of AI with NASA satellite data to predict dangerous space weather. Deep Learning Geomagnetic Perturbation was the formal name given to it. According to NASA's statement, this model can generate forecasts quickly and updates them every minute.

DAGGER has been designed to examine the spacecraft measurements of solar wind — a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. Following this measurement, it could predict “where an impending solar storm will strike, anywhere on Earth, with 30 minutes of advance warning,” NASA said. 

The team tested this AI model by running it through two geomagnetic storms that occurred in August 2011 and March 2015. DAGGER was able to predict storm impacts around the world quickly and accurately for both storms

“With this AI, it is now possible to make rapid and accurate global predictions and inform decisions in the event of a solar storm, thereby minimizing — or even preventing — devastation to modern society,” said Vishal Upendran of the Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics in India, who published a paper about the DAGGER model published in the journal Space Weather, in a NASA statement. 

With 30 minutes' notice, it would give some time to avert the potential destruction of modern infrastructure, including power grids.

Space weather forecasting is especially useful as the Sun approaches "solar maximum" in 2025.

It will be the peak of this sun's 11-year activity cycle, which may trigger more intense and frequent bursts of solar flares from the sun’s atmosphere towards space and the Earth.

With this advancement in the forecast of space weather, NASA adds that “there could one day be solar storm sirens that sound an alarm in power stations and satellite control centers around the world, just as tornado sirens wail in advance of threatening terrestrial weather in towns and cities across America.”