Powerful Solar Flare Disrupts Radio and Navigation Signals Across North America
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August 7, 20–
A powerful solar flare erupted from the sun on Monday, causing widespread disruptions to radio and navigation signals across North America. The flare, classified as an X1.5 flare, marked the 20th X flare of the current 11-year solar cycle and prompted space weather forecasters to issue warnings due to energetic particles hitting Earth.
Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation that emanate from magnetically dense, cool regions on the sun’s surface called sunspots. Traveling at the speed of light, these radiation bursts reach our planet within eight minutes. When they interact with particles in Earth’s ionosphere, particularly in the region between 50 and 400 miles above the surface, they supercharge them. As a result, the radio and satellite signals passing through this region are affected.
According to solar physicist Keith Strong, the solar flare’s impact on Monday was rated as a strong category 3 on the five-point scale developed by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This resulted in an R3 (strong) radio blackout event on the daylit side of the Earth, affecting most of the United States, Canada, and the Pacific Ocean. Frequencies below 5 MHz were the most affected, and navigation signals saw a significant degradation.
The solar flare originated from the largest and most active sunspot group visible on the sun’s disk, as reported by the U.K. space weather forecaster Met Office. Remarkably, this powerful flare occurred just two days after a slightly weaker X flare on Saturday.
In addition to these two significant flares, the sun also unleashed multiple moderate-class flares in recent days, with three occurring within the past 24 hours. The presence of charged solar particles in Earth’s atmosphere, resulting from these flares, prompted the Met Office to issue a warning for a mild solar radiation storm. While extreme cases of these charged particles may pose a radiation hazard to astronauts and aircraft traveling over polar regions, the current event is expected to be relatively harmless, classified as a mild category 1 storm.
Looking ahead, the Met Office predicts the possibility of further strong flares while the large sunspot cluster remains visible on the sun’s surface. However, this threatening region is expected to disappear behind the sun’s edge within the next two days, providing some respite for space weather forecasters.
In the meantime, experts are preparing for the arrival of two coronal mass ejections (CME), massive clouds of magnetized gas that frequently accompany solar flares. When CMEs collide with our planet’s magnetic field, they can create a geomagnetic storm. While these storms can produce stunning aurora displays, they can also pose risks to satellite operators and even knock out power grids and telecommunication networks in severe cases. The upcoming geomagnetic storm is predicted to reach a strong G3 level, according to Spaceweather.com.
As space weather forecasters monitor the effects of these solar events, it is crucial for individuals and organizations relying on radio and satellite signals to remain vigilant and prepared for any potential disruptions.