Understanding space weather hazard in the Australian high-voltage power transmission lines using geomagnetic and magnetotelluric data

Geoscience Australia’s geomagnetic observatory network covers one-eighth of the Earth. The first Australian geomagnetic observatory was established in Hobart in 1840. This almost continuous 180-year period of magnetic-field monitoring provides an invaluable dataset for scientific research.


Geomagnetic storms induce electric currents in the Earth that feed into power lines through substation neutral earthing, causing instabilities and sometimes blackouts in electricity transmission systems. Power outages to business, financial and industrial centres cause major disruption and potentially billions of dollars of economic losses. The intensity of geomagnetically induced currents is closely associated with geological structure.


We modelled peak geoelectric field values induced by the 1989 Québec storm for south-eastern Australian states using a scenario analysis. Modelling shows the 3D subsurface geology had a significant impact on the magnitude of induced geoelectric fields, with more than three orders of magnitude difference across conductive basins to resistive cratonic regions in south-eastern Australia. We also estimated geoelectrically induced voltages in the Australian high-voltage power transmission lines by using the scenario analysis results. The geoelectrically induced voltages may exhibit local maxima in the transmission lines at differing times during the course of a magnetic storm depending on the line’s spatial orientation and length with respect to the time-varying inducing field. Real-time forecasting of geomagnetic hazards using Geoscience Australia’s geomagnetic observatory network and magnetotelluric data from the Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP) helps develop national strategies and risk assessment procedures to mitigate space weather hazard.


This Abstract was submitted/presented to the 2023 Australian Exploration Geoscience Conference 13-18 Mar ( https://2023.aegc.com.au/)

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Identification info

Date (Creation)
2023-03-01
Date (Publication)
2024-02-05
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147102

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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Wang, L.

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Lewis, A.

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Jones, B.

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Duan, J.

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Gard, M.

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Hitchman, A.

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Australasian Exploration Geoscience Conference (AEGC) 13-18 March 2023, Brisbane Qld

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AEGC 2023 short and extended abstract

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Completed
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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Place and Communities Division

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Wang, L.

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  • Geoscientific information

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W


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As needed

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Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

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Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf

  • EARTH SCIENCES

Keywords

  • Geomagnetic storms and induction hazards

Keywords

  • Safe operation of electrical power grids

Keywords

  • geomagnetic

Keywords

  • magnetotelluric

Keywords

  • Published_External

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

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CC-BY

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4.0

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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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(c) Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2021

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Australian Government Security Classification System

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2018-11-01T00:00:00
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https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

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Unclassified
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Australian Government Security Classification System

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English
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UTF8

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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Link to Dropbox (full-paper_14.pdf)

Link to Dropbox (full-paper_14.pdf)

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Abstract created for 2023 Australian Exploration Geoscience Conference 13-18 Mar

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/851ddac1-57dd-44a7-a1ff-7f084da4def6

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GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Owner

Wang, L

 Geoscience Australia Internal Contact
Point of contact

Wang, L.

 Place and Communities Internal Contact

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Document
Name

Conference Abstract

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/147102

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/851ddac1-57dd-44a7-a1ff-7f084da4def6

Date info (Creation)
2022-08-02T23:48:52
Date info (Revision)
2022-08-02T23:48:52

Metadata standard

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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

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ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

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Keywords

Geomagnetic storms and induction hazards Published_External Safe operation of electrical power grids geomagnetic magnetotelluric
theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
EARTH SCIENCES

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