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Correction to “The March 1940 superstorm: Geoelectromagnetic hazards and impacts on American communication and power systems”

April 15, 2025

In Love et al. (2023), 5 estimated geopotentials on long lines for the March 1989 storm are incorrect. This was the result of incorrect calculation of line integrals. This error affects the two paragraphs of Section 11 and Figure 10 of that paper. The most significant impact of this error is that we overestimated the average ratio of the geopotentials measured the long lines during the March 1940 storm to the estimated geopotentials for the March 1989 storm. Instead of being a factor of 9 higher, the average ratio is only 9% higher. This means the inductive geoeffectiveness of the March 1940 storm was comparable to, or just slightly greater than, the geoeffectiveness of the March 1989 storm. Corrected paragraphs and a corrected figure are provided here.

Publication Year 2025
Title Correction to “The March 1940 superstorm: Geoelectromagnetic hazards and impacts on American communication and power systems”
DOI 10.1029/2022SW003379
Authors Jeffrey J. Love, E. Joshua Rigler, Michael D. Hartinger, Greg M. Lucas, Anna Kelbert, Paul A. Bedrosian
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Space Weather
Index ID 70270108
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Geologic Hazards Science Center - Seismology / Geomagnetism
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