A. Northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, are beautiful, some might even say awe-inspiring. But it isn’t the northern lights themselves that can impact wildlife, it’s the associated solar storms. That’s because solar storms can disturb the Earth’s magnetic field. This not only intensifies those beautiful northern lights but may also affect animals that use the Earth’s magnetic field to help them navigate, like various species of birds and whales.
Research is pointing to the idea that changes in the Earth’s magnetic field could impact bird migration and may contribute to some whale strandings.
However, it is a difficult area to research. Really large geomagnetic storms only occur a handful of times during an 11-year solar cycle and if it doesn’t align with migration then the opportunity for further research is missed. It’s also difficult to attribute whether animal behaviour changes are because of changes in the geomagnetic environment or if it’s due to other factors such as wind, clouds, rain, injury or illness. And it could be that some animals are compensating for the magnetic disturbance without showing any visible behaviour changes. It’s definitely an area where more research is needed!
