#g7izu โ Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #g7izu, aggregated by home.social.
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Space Weather
An M6.9 solar flare peaked at 10h02 UT 25 Aug. A moderate R2 radio blackout affected Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
UPDATE: A type II radio emission and a 10cm radio burst has been detected, indicating the release of a CME.
The flare originated from Earth-facing active region AR4513.
A large coronal hole in the southern hemisphere is also present and there's a chance we may get some influence from its fast solar wind stream.
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Space Weather
Solar flare is in progress, peaked at M1.7 at 19h42 UT 24 Aug. A minor R1 radio blackout is affecting eastern Pacific, Central and North American regions.
The green region on this globe represents the area of D-layer absorption on the Earth's sunlit side.
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GB Energy Monitor (update)
New versions of the Python server and html files (v260823.8) were uploaded to Github this morning.
Too many tweaks and fixes in this update to list, but a major change in this update includes the use of Octopus Energy flexible tariff rates for your energy use history. The earlier version used fixed rates. If your gas costs look wrong, go to the settings and change the gas "Units" selection from "auto" to "SMETS2" (m3). Meter types vary and the API doesn't carry the "type" data.
Additionally on the Environment Agency page, there's a new local weather conditions section which pulls data from Open Weather and Open Meteo. This uses your Open Weather API key that is entered on the electricity page, so data will be missing if you don't enter it.
I've had good reports from users of this app so far, so if you're a bit of a geek (and live in England) give it a try!
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Space Policy
The Brussels Times: The European Union told the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that it wants new norms of โresponsible behaviourโ in outer space alongside future legally binding agreements to help prevent an arms race in space.
Outer space is a โglobal commonsโ that should be used for the benefit of all humankind, and keeping it peaceful is needed to protect access, safety and the long-term use of the space environment, the EU said, according to a statement from the EU Delegation to the UN in Geneva released on Friday.
The bloc also reiterated that international law applies to activities in outer space, including the UN Charter and international humanitarian law, as set out in Article III of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.
Countries that have not yet joined the Outer Space Treaty should sign and ratify it โwithout further delayโ, the EU said.
Read the full article:
https://www.brusselstimes.com/eu-affairs/2282334/eu-warns-of-rising-threats-in-space-calls-for-urgent-actions-to-prevent-arms-race -
Marine Band Radio interference
What on earth is going on on VHF marine channel 16 in the Plymouth area? This noise has been ongoing for a long time. I don't know how local it is to me.
Ch16 is the international calling and distress channel.
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Proton storm update
Solar energetic particle rates have starting dropping. The rate peaked at around 11h UT and never reached S1 level.
If you don't know why this is important, some people are sensitive to very low solar proton levels. I personally know someone in New Mexico who is affected as soon as the level exceeds about 0.3 of the S1 rate. They feel tiredness and depression as soon as a storm starts.
I'm involved with a scientific group studying the new field of "Heliobiology", looking to find space weather connections to human health.
The electron rates remain elevated.
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Space Weather
Proton storm building
A solar energetic particle storm is building following an eruption from beyond the east limb.
Goes >=10MeV proton levels are approaching the S1 minor radiation storm level.
Electron levels are also rising. Electron charging can cause issues to satellite electronics. Energetic protons can also upset data on satellite computers.
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Space Weather
Another look at this morning's long duration flare which peaked at M1.6 at around 09h50 UT. The flare originated from AR4507 which was slightly beyond the west limb. This has become the customary location for large flares during this solar cycle!
The X-ray flux is still falling and is now at C3.4, over four hours since the flare occurred.
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Space Weather
A short movie from NASA SDO and SOHO showing the flare location and CME.
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Space Weather
A long duration M-level flare is in progress.
The flare started at 09h30 UT 21 Aug and reached a maximum of M1.6 between 09h50 and 10h25 UT. The X-ray flux is now falling very slowly and is currently at M1.3.
A minor R1 radio blackout is affecting Africa and southern Europe.
A type II radio emission has been detected, indicating the release of another CME, which can be seen on the third image.
The flare originates from AR4507 which is now just beyond the west limb.
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My GB Energy Monitor app has been refined and updated. Current builds are HTML build 260819.15 ยท Server build 260819.10.
Major revisions include access to your Octopus account's Agile API so that variable tariff and tariff changes are handled automatically (for Octopus customers only). The Environment Agency river levels, flooding and rainfall alert systems have been overhauled. Spoken alert rates are throttled smartly to avoid alert "flooding".
National electricity and gas supply and demand can be tracked with ease. Follow the grid frequency minute by minute to watch the peaks and troughs of demand in real-time throughout the day.
Grid Monitor is available free on Github. Please note that a running instance of Python 3 is required for running the data collection server.
Download via this page:
https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/software/ -
Space Weather
A moderate M8.1 solar flare peaked at 11h42 UT 20 Aug. An R2 radio blackout affected Africa and Europe.
This is the third flare >M level within 24 hours.
A type II radio emission was detected at 1,200km/s, indicating that a CME was released.
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Space Weather
Moderate solar flare in progress, now above M6. Standby for updates.
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Space Weather
An M1.8 solar flare peaked at 08h04 UT 20 Aug. A minor radio blackout is affecting eastern Africa and the Middle East.
This is the second M-flare in 24 hours. There was an M1.0 yesterday at 18h53 UT 19 Aug.
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Space Weather
Continuing minor geomagnetic activity is causing HF radio to be degraded. Proton flux is also increasing out at L1 so further degradation may follow in high latitude and polar regions.
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Space Weather
Another burst of geomagnetic activity is hitting Earth. A minor G1 storm is again in progress.
The solar wind speed has increased above 550km/s, and the DST (Disturbance Storm Time Index) has dropped to -43nT. Bz (magnetic polarity) is currently positive, so prospects for aurora are poor right now but that could change quickly.
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Earthquakes
A series of moderate, shallow earthquakes has been hitting southern Spain since an M5.2 hit at 23h04 UT on 14 Aug.
This morning there have been at least four quakes measuring between M4 and M4.9. These are all clustered in a region near Granada in Andalusia.
Shaking has been felt across a wide area with damage reported to buildings and vehicles.
The region is in a network of active faults lines. The biggest recorded quake in the region was an M6.5-6.7 in 1884, which caused significant damage and upto 1200 deaths in the Granada-Malaga area.
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Space Weather
Minor G1 geomagnetic storm conditions were reached at 05h UT this morning. The Kp level reached KP 5.
Conditions are now calming, but the solar wind will remain disturbed for most of the day.
HF propagation is generally not great, but is worse over the polar regions.
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Space Weather
The solar wind is currently disturbed as a solar storm is grazing past us. The Disturbance Storm Time Index (DST) has dropped rapidly and is now at -27nT. The solar wind density is high at 15.6cm3, and wind speed is rising and is above 400km/s. Bz is currently negative. The Hp30 index briefly bumped up to storm level between 16h and 16h30 UT, but is now back down.
NOAA SWPC did not put a storm watch in place. Disturbed conditions may continue for several hours.
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Get your geek on!
"GB Energy Monitor" is now available for download!
Pre-requisites: You must have Python running on your machine in order to run the server. The dashboard runs in a browser window. Open Weather and Octopus Energy (if you're an Octopus customer) free APIs are optional, but having them will enhance the dashboard.
Full instructions on how to run it are included in the readme file. All files are available in the zip file if you prefer a single download.
The dashboard provides real-time monitoring of the Great Britain (that's the UK without Northern Ireland) electricity and gas systems. In addition, Environment Agency flood alerts and river levels can be monitored in England within 80km of your location. National flood alerts will be displayed.
The "My Home" page is for Octopus Energy customers who can monitor their recent usage using various graphs and plots. There's a lag of up to a day for this data so you don't get real-time monitoring. Archive data for up to two years ago can be looked at.
Note that no private data leaves the local machine on which it's being viewed, apart from the API pull requests.
Speech alarms can be enabled on the alarms tab.
Feedback is welcome with any useful suggestions to improve the app.
Download from Github:
https://github.com/televisualarts-cloud/grid-monitor -
Boscastle Floods anniversary
22 years ago today, devastating storms over the north Cornwall caused devastating flooding to the coastal villages of Boscastle and Crackington Haven.
I was a camera operator on duty at the regional BBC South West in Plymouth on 16th August 2004. At 4pm I got a call from the producer and was sent up in a helicopter to capture pictures from Boscastle. As we flew north from Liskeard we could see the towering storm clouds over the north coast, which had been caused by convergent winds from the north and south coasts building up over the spine of the South-West Peninsular.
Video was recorded on tape and we flew the footage back to Plymouth Airport, from where it was rushed to the studio about four miles away. By some miracle we got it on end of the national 6 O'Clock News. The footage I filmed went around the world, and sustained the BBC News Channel output for much of that evening and night.
The next day I was back with the TV satellite truck servicing local and nation news outlets with pictures of the aftermath.
A year later on the one year anniversary, we were back at Boscastle doing a programme about how the village of Boscastle had coped and how it was recovering. In the local shop I found this souvenir pen of the event! I've kept it on the desk in my home office ever since.
The ingenuity of the Cornish to make a few extra pennies never ceases to amaze me!
Read more about the flooding at Boscastle in 2004, which includes video of vans and cars being washed down the river, from which the souvenir pen was based:
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Space Weather
We had a filament eruption in the south-east quadrant yesterday. That, combined with a large far-sided blast, released a messy solar storm with some solar material heading towards Earth.
Geomagnetic conditions may reach G1 levels on the 17th and/or 18th.
This solar cycle is now well into the declining phase, and the "style" of how solar storms are generated is changing to becoming more coronal-hole driven.
Dr Scott McIntosh says that coronal holes are a poorly understood science (mainly due to a lack of funding to support research over the last 20 years). Coronal holes are gaps in the solar atmosphere where bursts of solar wind can stream out and cause solar storms with little warning. During solar minimum these events are less eruptive, but nonetheless potent.
The F10.7 solar flux is dropping, and we'll be getting very few flares. Experts do warn that there still exists the potential for a few very large events as the reach solar-minimum, but then we'll have periods lasting months with no sunspots at all.
Watch Dr Scott McIntosh discuss this solar cycle on Space Weather Unplugged with Marybeth and Tanya here:
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UK Energy Snapshot at 18h30 UT 15 Aug 2026
As we near the evening peak of demand, gas generators are supplying 32% of the electricity for the UK. Imports account for 14%, nuclear 12%, and wind 11%. Other sources such as biomass, solar, battery, pumped storage and hydro-electric make up the rest.
For a few minutes during the afternoon the grid frequency dropped below the 49.8 Hz warning level. It quickly recovered. This would have been caused by a brief peak in demand not being caught quickly enough. New sources would have been rapidly brought online to compensate.
Gas demand is exceeding supply by 14% with the linepack in "drawdown" mode. Gas generators are consuming gas at a rate of 47.6 mcm/day to supply 10.27 GW of electricity. Norwegian imports of gas account for only 40.3 mcm/day at this moment.
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Indonesia Earthquake
There've been a ridiculous number of aftershocks following the major M7.7 quake in Indonesia yesterday.
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UK Energy snapshot at 13h UT 15 Aug 2026
Solar is now dominant, providing an estimated 33% electricity to the grid. Imports account for 20%, wind 15% and nuclear 12%.
Gas linepack is pressurizing with supply 27.5% higher than demand.
I'll post a further snapshot this evening.
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Earthquake
A major M6.9 earthquake has struck around 600km north-west of Singapore at 10h54 UT 15 Aug 2026, depth 183km.
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UK Energy
I'll post about UK energy periodically because a) I find it interesting, and b) because I made a funky dashboard to monitor all the publicly available data and I wanted to share it!
Snapshot of UK Energy supply and demand at 09h30 UT 15 Aug 2026:
Imports are currently supplying 30% of UK electricity demand and falling. Solar is building at 20%, but this should become the dominant source during the middle of the day. Wind is third at 17%. Solar and wind a struggling today due to cloud and a lack of strong winds. Nuclear power is 4th at 14%.
Gas supply is exceeding demand by 18.9% as the system packs gas in to the pressurized system (called "linepack"). The linepack is currently holding 329.7 mcm (million cubic-meters) of gas. Gas supply to power stations is far lower this morning than yesterday evening when demand was much higher.
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Earthquake
Three major earthquakes hit Indonesia in Flores Sea region. An M7.5 and two M6.2, Further after shocks are following rapidly.
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