NGRI to detect solar storms

Hyderabad: Dr Shekar C Mande, Director-General of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) inaugurated the National Geophysical Research Institute’s (NGRI)

electromagnetic

observatory at Choutuppal in Nalgonda on Saturday.

The observatory identifies the shifts in the Earth’s electromagnetic fields and

solar

storms from the Sun. The readings are connected to a global repository online.

Dr Shekar inaugurated the Variometer Facility constituting ‘3 Component Fluxgate Magnetometer’ and ‘Overhauser total field magnetometer’ at the Choutuppal campus NGRI.

Shekar Mande said, “The system continuously measures the Earth’s magnetic field at an interval of 1 sec and sends it to the Intermagnet, the global data repository of geomagnetic observatories. This is the only facility of its kind in the country delivering one sec data.”

He visited a declination inclination magnetometer meant for manual absolute measurements of the geomagnetic field twice a week.

NGRI Director Dr V M Tiwari said, “We are recording geomagnetic storms and geothermal storms in real-time. The observatory can detect them in the entire peninsular region. In Choutuppal there is anthropogenic pressure due to which the readings are accurate.”NGRI’s chief Seismologist Dr D Sri Nagesh said: “Solar storms and magnetic field changes can affect GPS used by us in all devices, including flights.”