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NASA Confirms Solar Storm Near 2012

An anonymous reader writes "`This week researchers announced that a storm is coming — the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.`

`Dikpati's forecast puts Solar Max at 2012. Hathaway believes it will arrive sooner, in 2010 or 2011.`

Anyone familiar with the Mayan Calendar? December 21, 2012 (13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan Calendar) Coincidence?"

56 of 344 comments (clear)

  1. Oh nooo!!! by scsirob · · Score: 3, Funny

    This explains it all! Higher activity on the sun accounts for higher temperatures on Earth and Mars. Next thing you know there will be no explanation for global warming anymore..

    --
    To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
    1. Re:Oh nooo!!! by endianx · · Score: 5, Funny

      Not true at all! This is just proof that mans impact on the environment extends throughout the solar system. It wasn't enough for us to mess up our own planet, now we have caused solar warming as well!

    2. Re:Oh nooo!!! by neomunk · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Interesting post, and consistent with the information I've seen on the subject.

      One little thing that sprung to my mind a few years ago as I was reading about the Mayan calendar and it's legendary implications mixed with Christian end-time lore is the fact that the apocalypse, if information from both sides is taken into account, should have started in late 2005. Mind you, (by my understanding of Christian theology) things won't get noticeably horrible until 3 1/2 years in, sometime around June 2009.

      Of course, that's assuming that the December 2012 date is the final culminating event of the whole ordeal. The end-times scenarios seem similar in their implications to me, but I'm no Theologian, just interested in the topic.

      It's really an interesting thing to think about, the unification of creation and it's subsequent re-unfolding.

    3. Re:Oh nooo!!! by Seumas · · Score: 2, Informative

      Anyone familiar with the Mayan Calendar? December 21, 2012 (13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan Calendar) Coincidence?" Yes, coincidence. Unless you're some idiot who gets his science via Art Bell and his pseudo-science guests and you also believe in grays and "mel's hole".

      Seriously.. wtf?! Why would anyone even include that comment in a scientific submission?
    4. Re:Oh nooo!!! by saider · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Of course, if Christianity is wrong, then all bets are off and maybe the Mayans do know when Jesus is coming. But then we have a Paradox.

      The mayans do not know of Jesus, therefore no paradox.

      Possibility Matrix.
      0-Both are right - Mayans without knowledge of Jesus predict the end of the world. Christians predict the end of the world, which includes Jesus v2.0.
      1-Christians right, Mayans wrong - Lots of "I told you so"s bantered about.
      2-Christians wrong, Mayans right - Fewer "I told you so"s bantered about.
      3-Both wrong - Life goes on as normal and some people begin to realize that prophecy is inherently unreliable.

      Another possibility is that people cause the end of the world themselves and spin that as their prophecy coming true.

      --


      Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
    5. Re:Oh nooo!!! by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not true at all! This is just proof that mans impact on the environment extends throughout the solar system. It wasn't enough for us to mess up our own planet, now we have caused solar warming as well!

      "Man's impact"? Um, I think you mean "George W. Bush's impact". If he'd just sign Kyoto, the sun would instantly return to normal.

    6. Re:Oh nooo!!! by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Hush, you're ruining Al Gore's fundraising efforts.

      Everything is driven by money. Always follow the money trail. Why do you think there are people who whine about embryonic stem cell research even though only adult stem cells have yielded viable results? Because the guys getting results have private investors, and the guys not getting results run to the public to make everyone else pay them with federal funds--aka, your taxes.

      --
      "Sufferin' succotash."
    7. Re:Oh nooo!!! by Chysn · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > The United Nations found that there is more Methane produced from livestock, which raises global temperature greater than CO2 by a factor of
      > approx. 20, than any human caused CO2 combined

      You don't consider the cultivation of livestock a human activity? Seriously?

      --
      --I'm so big, my sig has its own sig.
      -- See?
    8. Re:Oh nooo!!! by Elfan · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes solar variation can affect earth's climate. However, solar variation since 1750 is a much smaller forcing than Greenhouse gasses. See the IPCC TAR section 6.13.

      I don't know why this off topic speculation was modded at +5.

    9. Re:Oh nooo!!! by Theaetetus · · Score: 4, Informative

      3.) Mars is experiencing the same climate change that Earth is. (source: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/ [space.com] mars_snow_011206-1.html and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/new s/news.html?in_article_id=410901&in_page_id=1770 [dailymail.co.uk]) How can you explain the recent same climate changes on different planets? I doubt it's all those cars being driven there.

      Debunked almost two years ago. Sheesh.
    10. Re:Oh nooo!!! by burndive · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes, I see that tongue bulging out your cheek.

      None of those claims are actually in the Bible, except for the woman part of #3, which has NOT been disproven. If you think science has disproven it, then you don't understand the nature of science.

      --
      ...because "hacker" sounds way sexier than "code drone."
    11. Re:Oh nooo!!! by Shadowlore · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You don't consider the cultivation of livestock a human activity? Seriously?
      Maybe he's part of the IPCC which also doesn't consider it to be so.

      In a sense they are right. Cow gas and cow belches are not human activity. Yes mankind has increased the numbers of them.

      And the key difference is political impetus and control. Seriously, bovine contribution to GW is approximately 11% greater than human industrial outputs. But you won't see the AGW disasterbators saying we need to reduce the number of cows, or put cows under collection facilities, etc.. Why not? Because for most of the AGW disasterbators it isn't about the environment or the science. It is about control and forcing people to live a lifestyle the AGW disasterbators want them to.

      The AGW proponents say it is our industrial output (particularly cars and the "carbon footprint"), but don't talk to the media about the other sources -even when said sources are greater in GWP. The worst moment for AGW proponents was when the founders of the notion said they needed access to government to get them to change the laws to make people do things. It's been downhill since then.

      --
      My Suburban burns less gasoline than your Prius.
    12. Re:Oh nooo!!! by jlehtira · · Score: 2, Informative

      So much wrong there that I don't know where to start.

      1) The magnetic field proposal is actually interesting. That might actually have an effect. But, a magnetic field does not stop light from passing, and that's how the vast majority of energy comes to Earth. Actual particles are affected by the magnetic field though. They get moved from their original trajectories to polar areas, causing northern lights there. As far as I know, this phenomenon is not strong enough to significantly warm up the polar regions, but hey, there might be an effect.

      2) "The storm is growing in altitude," de Pater said. "This growth signals a temperature increase in that region", she said.

      Right. Storms form better when there's more heat available, that's what we know from our Caribbean hurricanes too. But deducing *global* warming on Jupiter from the fact that there's a new storm forming, is very bad science and very uncertain indeed. Regional warming tells us nothing about global warming.

      3) "It is not yet clear, though, if the evidence of a single year's change represents a trend."

      Let me tell you what, no it doesn't. Not here on Earth, and not any more on Mars. Also, this article too is taking one isolated spot and saying it reflects a global change. Think of El Niño on Earth: that too makes some places warmer and some other places cooler than otherwise when it happens.

      There are no recent same climate changes on different planets. There's no CO2 ice cap melting on Earth or Jupiter, there's no huge permanent storm system forming on Earth or Mars and there's no excess CO2 or CFC being pumped into atmosphere on Mars or Jupiter.

      4) "the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent - 18 percent - than transport."

      Transport too is only one single cause for our emissions. Besides, nobody really claimed that it would be the cars themselves that are the biggest culprit. And, CO2 is currently far more significant than methane, even when we've more than doubled the atmospheric methane too. So right you are, it's not only cars and not even only CO2 that we should cut down.

      It is possible that the warmer temperatures on Earth are caused by cyclical natural phenomena. That said, we do not know of a cycle that would come near to explaining recent warming. And, because we know a method by which CO2 traps heat, we can be fairly certain that on top of any natural phenomena we have added an unnatural phenomenon. And according to our best science, that unnatural phenomenon is "very probably" what is causing the warming here.

      CO2 is not the only thing that affects climate. And our climate is a chaotic system too: it is fundamentally capable of huge changes without apparent reason.

      And one last thing. China is only producing less than two thirds as much CO2 as USA, despite their far bigger population. And while they certainly have the capacity to produce more CO2, it's actually up to human beings. My guess is that China will never actually match USA in the total amount of CO2 ever produced - it'll take a long while to catch up to the current emissions, and then a whole lot more to match the USA's excess this far. Every reduction counts, and everybody cutting emissions and being bound by the same limits is the only moral way. China did agree to the Kyoto protocol, and I think that means they've agreed to limit emissions when they come close to the western pollution some coming decade or century.

      I don't want to get rich, I want to be happy. And I recommend such priorities for everyone else too.

      For references: http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf (IPCC summary) and wikipedia for "energy conservation" and "kyoto protocol"..

  2. Umm, old news? by Zarhan · · Score: 5, Informative

    The article is dated March 10, 2006.

    1. Re:Umm, old news? by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 5, Funny
      News goes in a cycle.

      This news will be repeated again and again, reaching DUPE MAX sometime just AFTER the SOLAR MAX predicted.

      It is not, however, a harbinger for the end of dupes.

      --
      This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
    2. Re:Umm, old news? by daeg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As someone who used to work in news, I can tell you that is entirely false. After the event, there are even more stories that you can pull from an event than there were leading up to the event. For instance: Did the storm affect anything? Was it stronger than predicted? Why? Does it affect local animals at all? What about children? Was your child affected? Can we link to to increased teen suicide? Was it caused by aliens? Can we find someone that thinks it was aliens? Was the prediction wrong? Was it right? Was it both right and wrong? Are there any local experts that can weigh in on the subject? ...no? Can we make some experts?

      Local news was terrifying to say the least.

    3. Re:Umm, old news? by ehrichweiss · · Score: 3, Funny

      You forgot the biggie: Can we relate this to Anna Nicole? Bring that out at the right moment and the story will reach record numbers of readers and it'll be covered forever. I only wish I were kidding.

      --
      0x09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
  3. Apocalypse? by muellerr1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Anyone familiar with the Mayan Calendar? December 21, 2012 (13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan Calendar) Coincidence?"
    Great. It wasn't enough that the fundies were predicting apocalypse, now there's a secular apocalypse to look forward to. And here I thought we were done with Y2K. Sheeple sure loves them some end times.
    1. Re:Apocalypse? by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're just jealous because you haven't spent the past several years building a sacred Mesoamerican ball court in your cornfield. If I build it they will come...

    2. Re:Apocalypse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Would it really be such a bad thing, though? Just think: we wouldn't have to worry about the 32-bit timer on Unix systems overflowing in 2038!

    3. Re:Apocalypse? by Guuge · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You clearly don't know what the word 'secular' means. Grab a dictionary. You'll find that this sort of Pythagorean mysticism is not at all secular. Indeed, the word you're looking for is "mystical".

      The supposed difference between fundamentalist dogma and mystical superstition is not compelling to me, but you can observe it if you wish.

  4. End of the world? by hawkinspeter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes - it's just a coincidence

    --
    You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
  5. December 21, 2012 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    12/21/2012 12+21+20+12=65 !! That's how old Jesus would be if he was born in 1942!! COINCIDENCE??

  6. Coincidence? by Skidge · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anyone familiar with the Mayan Calendar? December 21, 2012 (13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan Calendar) Coincidence?" Yes. Yes, it is.
  7. Sure.... by Zeek40 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If they're as accurate at predicting storms on the sun as they are here on earth, I'll believe them when it's happening.

  8. Coincidence by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anyone familiar with the Mayan Calendar?
    Yes, I am familiar with the Tzolk'in Calendar.

    December 21, 2012 (13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan Calendar) Coincidence?
    Yes, coincidence. I was first exposed to the-world-will-end-in-2012 when I read Graham's book Fingerprints of the Gods. I wasn't sold on his numerology.

    Let me break it down for you: the Mayans had a very advanced & complex calendar that took into account a lot of different cycles and even some of the most extraordinary hiccups that come with man's attempt at keeping track of time. For the Gregorian calendar, we have leap years except we skip one every four hundred years and even with that in place I think we lose a day every 8,000 years. And you will find that every model has some special issues.

    So, back to the Mayans, their measurements of days came in sets of 13, contrary to our sets of 7 days in a week. So the world is no more likely to end on 13.0.0.0.0 than it was on the new years even in year seven. Just because 13 was always the last number in their cycles just means that we start a new cycle. No cataclysmic event needed to mark it. The cycle simply repeats and they most likely go to 1.0.0.0.0 there's no such thing as overflow in their calendar.

    Fun hokey astrological implications? Yes. Cold hard scientific data pointing to the end of the world? No.
    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Coincidence by painQuin · · Score: 5, Funny

      the ones you have to watch out for are the cultures whose calendars count down

      --
      A guilty conscience means at least you've got one.
    2. Re:Coincidence by Bacon+Bits · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Gregorian calendar has leap years as follows:
      Every year divisible by 4 is a leap year.
      Except when that year is also divisible by 100, in which case it is *not* a leap year.
      Except when that year is also divisible by 400, in which case it *is* a leap year.

      Hence 2000 was a leap year. 2100 will not be.

      The fun hokeyness is due to the Western assumption that everything is linear, in spite of the fact that we repeat months, days of months, and days of weeks constantly. We don't find it odd that there are thousands of Wednesdays or March 21sts, but somehow we can't understand there ever being more than one 2007.

      --
      The road to tyranny has always been paved with claims of necessity.
    3. Re:Coincidence by jrumney · · Score: 5, Funny

      but somehow we can't understand there ever being more than one 2007.

      There was another, 4014 years ago. What I can't figure out is how prehistoric man knew when Jesus was going to be born/die/be baptised or whatever event you believe led to the changeover, and how clever it was of him to count backwards.

  9. Anyone familiar with the Mayan Calendar? by Peter+Trepan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is it the one where all twelve are nude except for loincloths and headdresses?

    Um... no, I'm not familiar with it.

    --

    Step into a huge movement. Don't Tread In Me.

    1. Re:Anyone familiar with the Mayan Calendar? by Bandman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?

      Why am I the only one who has that dream?

  10. Ham Radio operators know what to do! by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Get ready for those long-distance ham radio contacts when the ionosphere goes crazy, and conditions generally improve even when it's not crazy! And now that there's no more Morse Code test, we'll see a lot of people who were stuck on VHF before on the HF bands.

    Looking at auroras will be cool too. Be sure to reserve the left seat on US to Europe red-eye flights, I've seen amazing aurorae out that window, nothing that you could see from the ground.

    Bruce

  11. Sweet! by DoctorPepper · · Score: 4, Informative

    Looks like I need to really get to work on my Elecraft K1. With a solar maximum like they're predicting, QRP is going to be awesome!

    --

    No matter where you go... there you are.
    1. Re:Sweet! by brain1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Wonder how high the maximum usable frequency will rise to? Worldwide QRP on 6 meters? 2 meters? Can't wait.

    2. Re:Sweet! by brain1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You know, now that I think about it, there wasn't a lot of VHF/UHF gear for amateur radio back then during that huge solar max. Mostly old surplus, vibrator power supply, VHF trunk-mounted FM wideband business radios recrystalled for 2M. 70cm was largely unexplored territory. Forget everything above that, unless you happened to have a military surplus klystron laying around somewhere. 1296 MHz and above was hugely experimental and the average amateur couldn't touch the gear to play around with those bands.. So, this is really the first time we as amateurs get to explore ionospheric reflection propagation at those high frequencies. Exciting. Only sour note is that a lot of birds out in space are going to have myriad problems. Surface charging, solar panel deterioriation, charged particles ripping through circuitry. Ugh. Only the RAD-hardened military stuff will get through relatively unscathed. We'll see, but I wouldn't want to be one of the operators of those birds. 73

  12. We arranged this for the Olympics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    So that we'd have sunshine in London during the games. :-)

  13. Re:Second to 1958 activity by Rooked_One · · Score: 2, Funny

    like the millions of cell phones that millions of people base their lives on? Its times like these I really appriciate my little black PAPER book.

  14. Re:Yes, you've found a coincidence. Yippee. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    December 21, 2012 (13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan Calendar)

    Noted. I'll be sure to eat mexican food on the 19th, and some german food on the 20th to make sure I have really bad gas on the 21st.

    That way, if the world ends, I can take the credit because I was farting all day.

  15. Re:Second to 1958 activity by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Funny
    It was 1958. The powerplants shut down because all the plant workers had to get home to beat their wives, listen to Elvis records, and oppress black people.

    It also probably didn't help that crazy scientists were sending lightening strikes directly into the power grid to help whiney punks get back to 1985.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  16. Just in time... by corpsmoderne · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... for the US elections

    "65535 votes for X in this voting machine??? errr! Must be the solar storm..."

  17. An interesting subject.. by zyl0x · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Supposed "remote viewer" Major Ed Dames has not-so-accurately predicted such a solar flare. He calls it the "Killshot" and says it will end most life on the planet.

    And naturally he is selling the secrets of how to survive this solar flare on DVD for the low low price of $24.99. Still, it's interesting to see a psychic's claim being backed by scientific observations.

    --
    Blerg.
  18. Considering the "political" and environmental by Shivetya · · Score: 2, Interesting

    climate I would be curious what side effects they think this will have on our world other than electromagnetic issues?

    Does sunspot activity correspond to an decrease in the amount of radiation hitting the earth? If we are at a low point now for sunspots will their increase be truly noticable?

    I am only wondering as some scientists have put forward the idea that the sun's activities plays a much greater role in our environment than many give it credit for.

    So will an increase in sunspot activity affect us? ( I have no idea, hence I am asking from people who do)

    --
    * Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
  19. Re:Insightful??? by Malakusen · · Score: 2, Funny

    It answered both questions effectively and efficiently. I'm sufficiently impressed.

    --
    Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to conviction
  20. An Interesting Read On The Subject by bc90021 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Bringing up the Mayan Calendar, and the sun's various cycles, is a book called "Apocalypse 2012". (Not an affiliate link.) It's not as dire as the title might sound, though the author (Lawrence E. Joseph) does explore some of the various issues with that date. One concept he examines is that as the solar system moves around the galactic center, the earth has been shielded from various radiations it will no longer be shielded from after that date.

  21. Climate Change Linked to Solar Activity by WED+Fan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This article from NASA JPL is very informative on the subject.

    The researchers found some clear links between the sun's activity and climate variations. The Nile water levels and aurora records had two somewhat regularly occurring variations in common - one with a period of about 88 years and the second with a period of about 200 years.

    I think we need to take a look at the hysteria. It is turn our attention away from what we can do to better this planet. And, the idea of carbon offsets just makes people feel better for their polution levels.

    Global Warming has become the new Medieval Church and anyone who does not walk a precise line on the message faces the New Inquisition.

    We do need to live more green, more clean, and more simple. But, the public won't buy off on that message if we keep tying it to the Holy Church of Global Warming Hysteria. If we can show more immediate effects of living green and clean the public will follow.

    We need to separate those whose real agenda is socio-economic change from the environmental argument. They aren't really interested in the environment, anyway. We need to remove the scammers, like the "carbon offset" (unregulated, uncertified, non-verifiable) companies to improve public perception.

    We need to substitue Ed Beagley Jr. for Al Gore. Ed lives, breathes, talks, and walks the environment. Al Gore, while talking about it, still jets around the world, when he could use his own invention, the Internet, to show up at appearances, he maintains a house in Tennessee that uses 20 times the amount of energy as his neighbors, he is a glutton who preaches about the wonders of a diet.

    --
    Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
  22. Date Correction by tenma4 · · Score: 2, Informative

    I believe the actual date from the Mayan calendar is Sunday, December 23rd, 2012. A friend and I have had a wager riding on this one for 11 years...

  23. next slashdot poll by way2trivial · · Score: 4, Funny

    which do yuo prefer to look at

    aurorae/auroras

    or

    areolas?

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  24. We're not going to pass through the tail ... by RembrandtX · · Score: 2, Funny

    We're not going to pass through the tail of a comet are we ?
    I mean .. solar storms I can handle, but those damn comet tails hold zombies.
    Self preservation would make me hide out in a tin garden shed, or the back of my big-rig,
    but really, the world is just doomed from that point on.

    --

    --Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
  25. Coincidence? by Surt · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anyone familiar with the Mayan Calendar? December 21, 2012 (13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan Calendar) Coincidence?"

    Nope, it's true every time.

    --
    "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  26. hence by cyclomedia · · Score: 2, Informative

    instead of bashing on about global warming we need to bash on about

    1. asthma

    2. the fact that every sandstone building in an urban location is black from years of exhaust fumes, or are lungs immune from the same effect?

    3. recycling is the natural norm of things, hence decomposition, bugs, worms and mould whilst use-once trow away for ever is clearly not.

    4. smog

    5. landfills look ugly and smell bad

    6. motorways/freeways and their junctions take up vast acres of land compared to a railway system of the same capacity. look ugly and create a lot of noise

    7. if you live within walking/cycling distance of your job imagine the time and money you'd save on commuting...

    8. ...and you'd get fitter...

    9. ...and therefore be happier

    10. look up, you can't see the stars because of all the light pollution, stars are pretty, light pollution is yellow and ugly.

    11. power stations are big andspew out big clouds of smoke/steam which sure doesnt look pretty

    12. if you grow your own vegetables then you don't have to give your money to walmart just for the privelidge of eating...

    13. ...and you know for a fact what pestisides and fertilizers were used to grow them...

    14. ...and you get yet more exersise whilst gardening

    I just reeled that all off the top of my head and some of it is no doubt apocryphal, but it just demonstrates that there are a whole host of reasons for going green apart from the endless arguments about global warming.

    --
    If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
  27. Remember Galaxy 4? by Pontiac · · Score: 5, Informative

    Funny how people forget..

    When Galaxy 4 died it took out 80% of the pagers in the US plus several video feeds used by the major networks (I worked for CBS at the time)

    This was 2 years before the 2000 Solar max when solar activity was ramping up.
    More storms in 2003 took out power in parts of Switzerland and killed 2 Satellites

    There were several solar flare warnings around that time.

    http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast14jul_2 m.htm

    July 14, 2000 -- This morning NOAA satellites and the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) recorded one of the most powerful solar flares of the current solar cycle. Space weather forecasters had been predicting for days that an intense flare might erupt from the large sunspot group 9077, and today one did.

    http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/power_outage _031031.html

    The sixth in an unprecedented series of strong space storms dished out by the Sun over a 10-day period plowed past Earth Thursday, apparently cutting power to 20,000 Swedish customers. The powerful series of outbursts also claimed two satellites as casualties while fueling a host of minor disruptions to radio broadcasts and airline flight plans.

    http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/articles/eisbaker.html

    A very intense flux of electrons, evident in the magnetosphere earlier this year, may have caused a satellite failure (or at least exacerbated the situation) leading to the loss of telephone pager service to 45 million customers, research has shown. The electrons, known as highly relativistic electrons (HREs), were especially numerous in the weeks preceding the failure. Researchers say HREs have triggered spacecraft anomalies in the past when fluxes are elevated. They therefore believe this energetic electron event could have been behind the failure of the attitude control system of the Galaxy 4 spacecraft at 2200 UT on May 19, 1998. A backup system also failed, either at the same time or earlier, so operators were unable to maintain a stable Earth link.

    Galaxy 4 is a heavily used communication satellite at geostationary orbit*. Its sudden failure caused not only widespread loss of pager service but also numerous other communication outages. Using a wide array of datasets, our team of scientists analyzed the space environment for the times in question and found evidence of highly disturbed solar, solar wind*, and geomagnetic conditions in late April and early May. The combination of coronal mass ejections*, solar flares*, and high speed solar wind streams led to a powerful sequence of interplanetary disturbances that hit the Earth. These disturbances produced a deep, powerful, and long-lasting enhancement of the HRE population throughout the outer Van Allen radiation zone. The kinds of disturbances witnessed are indicative of the types of events that may commonly occur during the approaching peak in solar activity in the years 2000 and 2001. It will be most important to determine how well space systems can stand up to the multifaceted effects of the space environment over the next several years.


    http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/ cell_phone_020306.html

    Next time your cell phone drops acall, don't rush to blame your service provider. The culprit may well be anangry Sun.

    A new study of 40 years of solardata shows that during peaks in activity, bursts of energy from the Sun canpotentially cause dropped calls for some cell phone users across wide areastwice per week. The problem is caused when radio waves associated with thebursts hit cell phone towers, creating static that overwhelms the signal at thetower, where calls are relayed.

    T

    --
    If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur. --Red Adair
  28. like NOAA hurricane forecast of 2006? by peter303 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    nuf said

  29. Metanotice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Before modding this guy up you might want to see his previous templated posts and refutations:

    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=221906&cid=179 81692
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=227015&cid=183 90093
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=225014&cid=182 30822
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=220006&cid=178 42262

    I wonder how much he's getting paid to do this...or if he's really as demented as his posts seem to imply.

  30. The real joke by jmorris42 · · Score: 2, Informative

    > Um, I think you mean "George W. Bush's impact".

    What makes this joke especially funny is that, despite the fervent belief of most of the crazy elements on the left, George W, Bush CAN'T sign the Kyoto Treaty even if he wanted to. So their carping for him to sign only reveals their ignorance.

    Huh? What can I possibly mean? Am I trolling? Nope. Shrubbie can't sign Kyoto because there is already a signature on it for the US. President William Jefferson Blythe Clinton has already signed the Kyoto Treaty. Knowing it wouldn't have a chance in the Senate of being ratified he simply tossed it in a desk drawer after the ceremony to avoid the humiliation of seeing it voted down. You see, the Senate had already passed a non-binding resolution condemning Kyoto by a 90+ overwhelming vote.

    --
    Democrat delenda est
  31. Bullshit alert. by SETIGuy · · Score: 4, Informative

    1.) Apparently, the Earth magnetic field has decreased by 10% in the last 150 years (source: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/earth_magnet ic_031212.html). I'm an electrical engineer and during my studies in particle physics, I learned that a particles velocity can be affected by magnetic fields. I believe it's possible that more of the Sun's radiation is penetrating the Earth's magnetosphere ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_magnetic_fiel d ) due to it being weaker. If more radiation hits the Earth, shouldn't that also increase the overall temperature of the Earth and can global warming be attributed to this?

    No. The total energy of charged particles impacting the upper atmosphere is tiny compared with the solar light energy Compare for example, the intensity of the aurora with the intensity of sunlight. Now add in the fact that the aurora covers a tiny fraction of the earths surface while sunlight blankets half of the earth at any time.

    Even if it were a significant amount of energy, this energy is entirely absorbed by the atmosphere at altitudes above 60km. You would need to come up with a plausible mechanism for transporting this radiation down into the lower atmosphere without increasing the temperature of the stratosphere.

    2.) Jupitor is experiencing the same climate change that Earth is.

    No, it isn't. The change on Jupiter is regional, not global. There is no indication that it is related to any solar phenomenon.

    3.) Mars is experiencing the same climate change that Earth is.
    No, it isn't. Mars is losing CO2 ice near its South Pole. The most likely explanation is that large dust storms from recent years dumped some dust on the ice causing it to absorb sunlight and sublime. This sublimation may cause warming by increasing the CO2 and H2O content of the Martian atmosphere. This might feedback into causing more ice to evaporate. Since there isn't an active carbonate silicate cycle on Mars due to lack of liquid water, there is nothing to prevent this from occurring. So it's likely that the Martian climate experiences warming of this type in a cyclical manner, and that the warming will continue until something else stops it. For example the reduction in the temperature difference between the poles and the equatorial regions might slow the winds enough that the dust storms stop allowing increased precipitaion of CO2 onto the poles. There is no equivalent mechanism at work on Earth.

    4.) The United Nations found that there is more Methane produced from livestock, which raises global temperature greater than CO2 by a factor of approx. 20
    However the residence time of CO2 in the atmosphere is more than 20 times longer than the residence time of methane.

    [5.) What about the ice ages. We didn't cause them!]
    But wait officer, there were forest fires before there were people. Therefore it couldn't have been my campfire that started it.

    But wait officer, people can die without being murdered. Therefore it doesn't matter whether my fingerprints are on the gun.

    [A pile of other pointless crap designed to confuse the issues deleted.]
    Point 1 you could have gotten wrong just because you don't know anything about atmospheric science. The rest just puts you in the denial camp. Drop the political agenda for a while and see reality.
  32. Any calendar experts out there? by seandiggity · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Obviously it's a coincidence, if it's accurate. But it'd be nice to kill such a rumor with historical information anyway. Seems like it would be difficult to accurately compare our current calendar with the Mayan one and pinpoint down to the day.

    Anybody know if that measurement is wrong given the disparity between the Julian/Gregorian calendars in the West (or the history of our current calendar system in general)? Maybe that date is really November 24th (or whatever) in the earliest "modern" European calendar system. I remember reading somewhere that there's only been a unified calendar in Europe/the British colonies for about 250 years.

    I'm not interested enough to research, but maybe there are slashdotters out there who know a lot about this subject...

    --
    Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics, you can leave politics alone, but politics won't leave you alone.-rms