国家空间天气监测预警中心11日09时发布地磁暴红色预警：
北京时间2024年05月10日23时起发生地磁暴(geomagnetic storm)，最大级别达到超大地磁暴(Kp=9)水平，预计未来24小时，磁暴过程仍将持续，后续仍可能发生大地磁暴。
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.
geomagnetic /ˌdʒiːəʊmæɡˈnetɪk/：地磁的
The geomagnetic storm, which began at 11:00 pm 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.
受地磁暴影响，我国大部分地区电离层将会出现扰动，短波通信和导航定位会受到不同程度的影响;高层大气密度显著增加，将导致低轨卫星轨道衰减加剧。
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.
ionosphere /aɪˈɒnəsfɪə(r)/ ：电离层
density /ˈdensəti/：密度
orbital/ˈɔːbɪt(ə)l/：轨道的
decay /dɪˈkeɪ/：衰退;腐烂
随后，“阿勒泰绚丽极光”话题冲上微博热搜。
据报道，5月11日凌晨，新疆阿勒泰地区、内蒙古锡林浩特市等多地出现罕见极光。
Some netizens shared online the strong aurora they saw in Altay, situated in the northern part of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
aurora/ɔːˈrɔːrə/：极光
什么是地磁暴?
国家空间天气监测预警中心空间天气技术研发室主任宗位国介绍，作为最典型的太阳爆发活动，一次日冕物质抛射过程能将数以亿吨计的太阳物质以每秒数百千米的高速抛离太阳表面。这些物质中不光有着巨大质量与速度汇聚成的动能，还携带着太阳强大的磁场能。一旦命中地球，就会引发地球磁场方向与大小的变化，即地磁暴。
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.
coronal/ˈkɒrənəl/：日冕的;冠状的
为什么地磁暴会带来极光现象?
“地磁暴期间，高能粒子从太空落下，撞击空气并使其发光，从而形成极光。”宗位国介绍，空气中的分子和原子在与太阳物质的高速撞击过程中，会发生微观的能量交换。
以氧原子为例，它们会从撞击中接收一份能量，但由于原子核外电子的特性，电子与原子核之间只能容纳一定额度的能量，超过的部分都会再被释放出来，而释放的形式就是发光。
When geomagnetic storms occur, they usually bring with them the phenomenon of auroras. High-energy particles descend from space and collide with the atmosphere, lighting up the sky in different colors. The higher the intensity of solar activity, the greater the likelihood of witnessing this marvelous natural phenomena.
particle /ˈpɑːtɪk(ə)l/：微粒;粒子
erally do not affect human health.
此外，地磁暴也会对一些生物活动产生影响。例如信鸽，其定位和飞行依赖地球磁场，因此也会受到地磁暴的影响。
Those engaged in breeding or racing homing pigeons are advised to reduce the activities as the birds' navigational abilities may also be affected by the storms.