2024-07-21 12:11:29
NOAA warned that 65 percent of the the possibility that radio communications, aviation communications and satellites may be disrupted this week.
The agency said radio communications were down in parts of the Pacific Ocean and other regions on Wednesday morning.
Earth can also expect more solar flares in the coming weeks, NASA said.
Solar flares are bursts of electromagnetic radiation that erupt from sunspots – there are currently at least 12 active sunspots on the Earth-facing side of the Sun.
When solar flares occur, radiation travels from the surface of the Sun at the speed of light.
Depending on where it erupts from, this radiation may collide with Earth.
Energy streams are divided into groups according to their size: X is the most powerful, followed by M, C, and B, the weakest.
Only X and M flashes are strong enough to affect Earth.
When they arrive, they electrify the upper layers of the atmosphere, so they can cause radio communication disturbances.
“At this time, the most spots are forming on the Sun and they are starting to increase in size. However, when the AR3738 [Saulės dėmė] will turn out of sight, the Sun may calm down a bit,” said Dean Pesnell, a project scientist at NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Even after this week’s activity subsides, the maximum of solar activity will remain until 2025.
This means that this year we will likely see more of these sunspots forming, growing, and emitting solar flares.
Over the past few days, scientists have recorded radio disturbances around the world.
The strongest flashes were caused by Sunspot AR3738, a vast dark region of strong magnetic fields on the Sun’s surface.
This sunspot is starting to spin away from Earth, but it’s leaving with a bang — Tuesday at 4:26 p.m. In Lithuania time, the sunspot AR3738 launched an X-class flare.
It caused severe radio disruption mainly over the Atlantic Ocean, as well as over much of Africa, Europe and parts of North and South America.
After this X flare, solar activity remained high, with several weaker M and C flares occurring.
The resulting M flares caused minor radio blackouts over the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii, and northern India.
There is a good chance that there will be more flashes, writes “DailyMail”.
2024-07-21 12:11:29