November 27, 2020. The northern lights are not only a fascinating sight, but also evidence that powerful currents arise in the near-earth environment and the flux of cosmic radiation is sharply increased, which pose a danger to technological systems, both in near-earth orbits and on Earth. Can people who are far from space physics and do not have satellite data find out about the current position of the auroral oval and its intensity in the near future?

A simple and effective solution to this problem was proposed by the researchers of IPE RAS and GC RAS A.V. Vorobyov, V.A. Pilipenko and R.I. Krasnoperov, who launched an online service (http://aurora-forecast.ru) to predict the position of the auroral oval for any region of the planet.

The developed Internet service will be useful for operators of power networks, pipelines, communication systems, directional drilling. In the area of the auroral oval, strong geoinduced currents are induced in high-voltage power lines, causing overheating of transformers at substations, and the quality of signals from satellite navigation systems GPS and GLONASS is disturbed.