NASA has warned that a huge solar flare could cripple world communications across the world this week.
The solar flare, which is estimated to be around 20,000 degrees Celsius, has led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to issue an alert yesterday (July 22).
They warned that this solar activity could cause possible disruptions to Earth’s radio systems, including aviation communication and satellite operations.
The most significant disruption is expected on Friday (July 26), just days after a global IT outage caused by a Crowdstrike outage wreaked havoc at airports worldwide.
NOAA stated that weak power grid fluctuations could occur and the Aurora might be visible at high latitudes, such as Canada and Alaska.
In December, a NASA telescope captured the largest solar flare in years, which temporarily disrupted radio communication on Earth.
The sun emitted a massive flare along with a substantial radio burst, causing two hours of radio interference in parts of the US and other sunlit areas of the world.
Scientists at NOAA said it was the biggest flare since 2017, and the radio burst was extensive, affecting even the higher frequencies, reports the Mirror US.
Shawn Dahl of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center announced on Friday that the combination resulted in one of the largest solar radio events ever recorded.
Pilots across the country have reported communication disruptions, according to the Space Weather Forecasting Centre.
Scientists are keeping a close eye on this sunspot region for a potential plasma outburst from the sun, also known as a coronal mass ejection, that could be headed our way.
This could trigger a geomagnetic storm, Dahl explained, which could interfere with high-frequency radio signals at higher latitudes and set off northern lights, or auroras, in the coming days.
Solar flares are massive explosions of electromagnetic radiation from the Sun that can last anywhere from minutes to hours.
The sudden burst of electromagnetic energy travels at the speed of light, so any effect on the sunlit side of Earth’s exposed outer atmosphere happens simultaneously with the event being observed.
The increased level of X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation results in ionisation in the lower layers of the ionosphere on the sunlit side of Earth.
Solar flares typically occur in active regions, which are areas on the Sun characterised by the presence of strong magnetic fields; these are usually associated with sunspot groups.
As these magnetic fields evolve, they can reach a point of instability and release energy in various forms, including electromagnetic radiation, which we observe as solar flares.
