Earth's magnetic fieldThe new study analyzed images taken from 37 NEXRAD Doppler weather radar stations, which can detect groups of migrating birds, as well as data from ground-based magnetometers, to study 23 years of bird migration across the U.S. Great Plains. The 1,000-mile span from North Dakota to Texas is considered a major migratory corridor for birds.
"The biggest challenge was trying to distill such a large dataset — years and years of ground magnetic field observations — into a geomagnetic disturbance index for each radar site," Daniel Welling, University of Michigan space scientist."There was a lot of heavy lifting in terms of assessing data quality and validating our final data product to ensure that it was appropriate for this study.
The work paid off. The researchers discovered that the number of migrating birds in this region decreases by 9 to 17 percent during severe space weather events. They also noticed increased rates of birds becoming lost during migration, a phenomenon known as migratory bird vagrancy. Nocturnal migratory birds during a time of heavy migration will appear as a cloud around the radar station. This GIF animation shows birds taking off near a NEXRAD Doppler radar station in Wichita, Kansas.
Space.com contributing writer Stefanie Waldek is a self-taught space nerd and aviation geek who is passionate about all things spaceflight and astronomy. With a background in travel and design journalism, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University, she specializes in the budding space tourism industry and Earth-based astrotourism. In her free time, you can find her watching rocket launches or looking up at the stars, wondering what is out there.