Tracking a major interplanetary disturbance

The severe geomagnetic storm which occurred during 27–29 August 1978 was remarkable because it arrived unexpectedly and was not related to a solar flare or long-lived coronal hole. Observations on 900 celestial radio sources show that the storm was associated with a large-scale region causing enhanced interplanetary scintillation which enveloped the Earth at the same time. The disturbance was first detected on 26 August, when the outer boundary had reached a distance of about 0.8 a.u. from the Sun and it was tracked until 30 August. The enhancement was followed by a fast solar wind stream and its shape suggests that it was a compression zone caused by the birth of the stream.