Solar Storm Could Interfere With Satellites

By Balasubramanyam Seshan: Subscribe to Balasubramanyam's RSS feed

August 5, 2010 3:11 PM EDT

Solar storms do not directly harm life on Earth, but do affect modern technology, which is so much relied upon by humans, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

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Space storms disturb the Van Allen radiation belts, which become filled with "killer electrons" that can pierce the skin of a satellite -- or the cells of an astronaut. In August 1972, an intense solar flare that occurred between the flights of Apollo 16 and 17 would have killed the astronauts if they had been on the way to the Moon or on the Moon during that time.

But more often intense solar storms can distort radio signals and navigation devices such as Loran and the Global Positioning System. They can also disrupt and cut short the work of satellites. In January 1997, a communications satellite (Telstar 401) went dead just hours after a CME struck the magnetosphere. The loss of that satellite disrupted television signals, telephone calls, and part of a U.S. Earthquake-monitoring network.

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Magnetic storms can pump extra electricity into our power lines and pipelines, causing blackouts and fuel leaks. In 1989 a magnetic storm burned up a $36 million transformer in New Jersey and collapsed the entire power grid in Quebec, Canada, leaving six million people without electricity in Canada and the U.S. without power for nine hours.

The most visible effect of the current solar storm is lighting up the sky in the northern hemisphere of the Earth. As the solar wind flows past the magnetosphere, it acts like a cosmic generator, producing millions of amps of electric current. Some of these electric current flows into Earth's upper atmosphere which can light up like neon sign to create auroras.

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The solar wind pushes and stretches Earth’s magnetic field into a vast, comet-shaped region called the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere and Earth’s atmosphere protect living organisms from the solar wind and other kinds of solar and cosmic radiation.

Solar flares are classified as C (low intensity), M (moderate intensity), and X (high intensity). NASA said earth orbiting satellites detected a solar tsunami or a C3-class solar flare on August 1 around 0855 UT (3:55 am EST).

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) space weather prediction center said Earth's magnetic field is still reverberating from the coronal mass ejections (CME) impact of August 3, which sparked auroras as far south as Wisconsin and Iowa in the United States.

Analysts believe a second CME is right behind it, due to arrive on August 5. A second impact could re-energize the fading geomagnetic storm and spark a new round of Northern Lights. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras, NASA said.

3-day solar-geophysical forecast

NOAA space weather prediction center issued a 3-day solar-geophysical forecast on August 4 at 10:00 pm UTC, when solar activity is expected to be very low. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active levels until midday on August 5.

Solar activity is expected to increase to active to minor storm levels with a chance for major storm levels beginning midday on August 5 due to the expected arrival of a CME associated with a large filament disappearance on August 1, the space weather prediction center said.

The space weather prediction center said solar activity is expected to decrease to unsettle to minor storm levels on August 6 as the CME passage continues. A further decrease to quiet to unsettled levels is expected on August 7.

This article is copyrighted by International Business Times, the business news leader