Recent Solar Flare Could Disrupt Communications

w98 writes "CNN has reported that the 4th largest solar flare in the last 15 years may disrupt communications. "Significant solar eruptions are possible in the coming days and there could be disruptions in spacecraft operations, electric power systems, high frequency communications and low-frequency navigation systems," says the article."

Comments

Excellent!

[TripMaster Monkey]

This ought to provide a good excuse for various network problems for a few weeks.... ^_^

Re:Excellent!

[Tackhead]

> This ought to provide a good excuse for various network problems for a few weeks.... ^_^

Attention, troops stationed in New Orleans. Execute Order 66!

A comunitcations disruption can mean...

[Anonymous Crowhead]

...only one thing - invasion.

Great...

[kaellinn18]

Cue a bunch of slashdot posts with people getting cut off in the mid...##KR2F@F@$F$ {NO CARRIER}

Re:Great...

[GweeDo]

Why do you always assume people will post that? Some of us have oth...##KR2F@F@$F$ {NO CARRIER}

Northern lights?

[infolib]

What's the chance of seeing them?
I live on 56N12E

I'm impressed

[Neurotoxic666]

Power outage? Communication disruption? On CNN?

Hey, I'm surprised they haven't used the T word yet =)

SpaceWeather.

[hot_Karls_bad_cavern]

Here you go.

Re: 4th largest solar flare in the last 15 years

[TaleSpinner]

Damn that global warming! Now it's screwing up the sun!

Kind of late...

[josecanuc]

So these flares cause electromagnetic activity that occurs pretty quickly. According to the cnn.com article, their source was NOAA's Space Environment Center, and they handily included a link to said department.

According to the information at NOAA, the effects from this event will end by the morning of Sept 8. In other words, it's all over now, if you wanted to prepare.

Now, along with these often comes CME (coronal mass ejections), but this event wasn't facing Earth, so there won't be any of that material heading our way.

I have to ask what good it does for CNN to post this information as though it is an alert to prepare, rather than as an after-the-fact notice?

NOAA Article

[Gadgetfreak]

NOAA also has an article, with pictures and a movie, too.

"low frequency navigation"

[SuperBanana]

"and low-frequency navigation systems"

I'm not positive, but I believe they're referring to ADF beacons, which are not used very much these days, except to confirm VHF beacons, and ADF technology is not terribly reliable (receivers can be fooled by lightning, for example.) Pilots are told to listen to the received audio carrier (which I believe contains a morse code sequence) to make sure they have a valid signal.

Given that GPS was relatively popular in planes even 15 years ago (before they had ILS-certified GPS systems, so GPS has only become more popular) I can't see this being a problem except for some parts of the general aviation community which haven't chosen to install GPS panel-mount units or at least buy a handheld unit.

I suppose they could also be referring to LORAN/LORAN-C (used mostly by boats, save during WW2), but...jesus christ, I hope nobody's still relying on LORAN...maybe as a backup to GPS, sure...but...yikes.

yet another cool image

[jangobongo]

Here is another rather awe-inspiring picture from Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab.

lol

[Idealius]

Who are the jedi?

The looters?

Re:lol

[Tackhead]

> > > > This ought to provide a good excuse for various network problems for a few weeks.... ^_^
> > Attention, troops stationed in New Orleans. Execute Order 66!
>
> Who are the jedi?
> The looters?

"Yes, Lord! We need reinforcements, it's like a scene from Star Wars Galaxies down there!"
- NL-421

Seriously, I hate to duck a BOFH reference, but you know someone's gonna try and work the communications disruptions into a Katrina conspiracy theory... or use the expected communications disruptions as cover for a real conspiracy... or perhaps Karl Rove has a machine that can cause a solar flare, which is what he's using to disrupt communications as part of the metaconspiracy. Or all three, because making up non-falsifiable hypotheses is fun!

And on that point, I can only say "Ha Ha, Only Serious". The reason conspiracy theories have "legs" is precisely because looking for conspiracies (real or imaginary) is fun. Our brains evolved in an environment where the ability to outguess our fellow primate band members was an extremely useful survival trait. So not only is inventing conspiracy theories fun, it's fun for a very good reason.

So trust the Computer. The Computer is your Friend. Because it's not paranoia when they really are out to get you. (Confused yet? Good!)

It's more like this

[robyannetta]

Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?
Ray: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff.
Venkman: Exactly.
Ray: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling.
Egon: Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes...
Winston: The dead rising from the grave.
Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!

Solar activity increase and cycles

[SysKoll]

The last solar maximum was in 2001, and the next one is in 2013. However, that doesn't mean solar activity is perfectly regular and predictable. There is a very nice article showing that the sun actually contracts and dilates with a period that is still not well known.

We also know that the 17th century observations of the sun showed very few spots, whereas today spots are quite numerous. That's another variability.

Finally, several scientific papers suggest that solar activity variations have a major effect on the climate, much higher than was previously thought. There is a 208-year cycle that generated drought in South America during recent history, and these solar-forced droughts killed the Maya empire among other victims.

References: "A Variable Sun and the Maya Collapse", Kerr, Science, Vol 292, Issue 5520, 1293 , 18 May 2001 and Solar Forcing of Drought Frequency in the Maya Lowlands, Hodell, Science, Vol 292, Issue 5520, 1367-1370 , 18 May 2001.

So the sun most probably holds the key to long-term climate changes. We need more studies, because obviously, after a few decades of space observations, we don't know enough about cycles that last centuries.