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What is the Carbon Footprint of Aurora Borealis?

Aurora Borealis, a Facebook image uploaded in Northern Europe
Aurora Borealis, a Facebook image uploaded in Northern Europe

Evening of 10th October 2024 the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) were visible near many urban centres throughout the Northern Hemisphere.


The Northern Lights are the result of energised particles from the Sun hitting the Earth’s atmosphere at speeds up to 70 million kph.  The particles are drawn towards the magnetic poles.


When the solar wind solar wind impacts the ionosphere there are no new harmful greenhouse gases created.


It is the activities and responses of humans before, during and after the Northern Lights that has a significant Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e) impact.


The Northern Lights are very spectacular to view and wealthy people from the tropics are willing to take a holiday for the opportunity to see the Aurora Borealis.  The aeroplane flights, cruise ships, airport taxis etc. all count towards the Aurora Borealis Carbon Footprint.


When the Northern Lights might be visible around northern urban areas enthusiasts are notified by a mobile phone app that an appearance of the lights is a possibility.  Immediately, phones and cameras are charged and flasks of hot drinks prepared because the Northern Lights are only seen by those willing to wait through a night with clear skies and the accompanying low temperatures.


In the built-up cities with street lighting there is too much “light pollution” to observe the natural illuminations.  Therefore, many thousands of people opt to drive to a known dark spot for a better view.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t always work very well as the car headlamps produce light pollution.


All the photos of Northern Lights are uploaded to various cloud platforms, producing a spike in electricity and water usage in the Microsoft, Apple and Google data centres.

Soon as possible the photos are edited and selected images are shared on other social media platforms, the same photos uploaded to multiple platforms (each with georedundancy back-ups).


Finally, everyone drives home and waits for the next appearance of the Northern Lights.


Total Aurora Borealis carbon footprint unknown and will never be calculated UNLIKE business electric, gas and water where data loggers can transmit every water litre or kw energy used to the Carbon Counter monitoring and targeting platform.







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