Northern lights sighting just outside of Grande Prairie on Nov. 3, 2021 (Photo: Abby Zieverink / EverythingGP staff)

By Shane Clausing

Northern lights expected to be more common in Alberta until 2025: Expert

Nov 4, 2021 | 2:25 PM

Keep observers were able to catch glimpses of the Northern Lights in Southern Alberta this week, something that could be a more regular occurrence.

Over the last month, the northern lights have been very active across Alberta, as well as North America.

Dr. Andy Kale, a Researcher Associate at the University of Alberta, says the reason for the Northern Lights occurring more often is because the sun is transitioning from a period of what is called solar minimum to solar maximum.

“Right now, we are coming out of a period called solar minimum. The aurora is directly related to activity on the sun and this has a cyclic behaviour every 11 years,” he explained.

“It (the sun) goes from very quiet to very active, to very quiet again over 11 years. It’s starting to ramp up again and it’ll continue getting more and more active until about 2025.”

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The Northern Lights are created when the sun shoots out solar fares towards the Earth. These charged particles then head towards Earth’s magnetic field.

“It (the sun) generally coughs out a load of charged particles, which then flows outwards from the sun and can interact with the earth’s magnetic field,” said Dr. Kale.

“Most of those particles are deflected around us. Some of those particles will get onto earth’s magnetic field and they can come raining down onto our atmosphere and give us those lovely northern lights we get to see.”

While the Northern Lights create a spectacular show for us on earth, Dr. Kale says they actually have the potential to be extremely dangerous.

“When we see the northern lights, that’s a nice harmless colourful show in the atmosphere, but coupled with that is large currents flowing in all these particles, these large currents can couple to things on the ground like powerlines and oil pipelines. That can sometimes lead to breakers popping.”

Dr. Kale noted there was a big event in Quebec back in March of 1989 where a solar flare impacted the region, knocking power out for six hours. He says a similar incident also happened in South America when the sun let off a massive solar flare in late October 2021.

According to Dr. Kale, most companies are better equipped to handle events if there are solar flares, to avoid a potential catastrophe.

If you’re interested in catching the northern lights, there are various websites you can visit such as aurorawatch.ca. The website shows the chances of seeing the northern lights and gives various information and data. It is operated by the University of Alberta.

Dr. Kale tells EverythingGP, LNN’s sister station in Grande Prairie, if you missed the lights, there’s no need to worry, as they will be out many times over the next four years.

“The activity should be ramping up until 2025, so if you missed the aurora don’t worry, there’s going to be many more opportunities to go see it. I definitely recommend seeing the aurora at least once, it’s really a significant thing.”