The Sun unleashed a powerful solar storm that disrupted the transmissions across North America Monday. It came just two days after a weaker flare was reported Saturday.
Powerful Solar Flare Disrupts Transmission
On Monday (Aug. 7), a strong solar flare caused radio and navigation signal disruptions across North America and prompted space weather forecasters to issue warnings due to energetic particles striking Earth, Space.com reported.
The flare rated an X1.5, was the 20th X flare of the current 11-year solar cycle, which will peak next year. X flares are the strongest category of solar flares.
According to solar physicist Keith Strong on X, formerly Twitter, the X1.5 Flare triggered an R3 (strong) radio blackout event on the daylit side of the Earth (much of the U.S. and Canada, and the Pacific Ocean). Navigation signals deteriorated and were most severely impacted at frequencies below 5 MHz.
The flare erupted from the most significant and busiest sunspot group visible on the Sun's disk. It appeared barely two days after a somewhat weaker X flare was detected Saturday (Aug. 5), per the Met Office.
The Sun has recently released numerous moderate-class flares, including three in the last 24 hours, in addition to these two intense flares.
Sunspots, which are magnetically concentrated, cool patches on the surface of the Sun, are the origin of solar flares, which are intense blasts of radiation. The photons from these flares reach our planet in eight minutes by traveling at the speed of light.
The ionosphere is the portion of the Earth's atmosphere located approximately 50 and 400 miles (80 and 650 kilometers) above the surface. As the radiation from the outbursts interacts with these particles, it supercharges them. These changes then impact radio and satellite transmissions that travel across these areas.
The X1.5 Flare caused an R3 (strong) radio blackout event on the daylit side of the Earth (most of the US and Canada and the Pacific Ocean). Frequencies below 5Mhz were most affected and navigation signals degraded. pic.twitter.com/o474cptLT5
— Keith Strong (@drkstrong) August 8, 2023
Met Office Predicts More Powerful Flares May Occur
Following the two solar flares, the Met Office predicted that more powerful storms may occur since the sunspot cluster is still visible on the Sun's surface. However, within the next two days, that dangerous region should vanish below the Sn's edge, providing space weather analysts with some relief.
These experts are currently preparing for the arrival of two coronal mass ejections (CME), which are enormous clouds of magnetized gas that frequently leave the Sun alongside solar flares. As they interact with Earth's magnetic field, CMEs can result in a new form of a phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm.
Geomagnetic storms produce beautiful aurora displays, but because they expand Earth's atmosphere, they can also be problematic for satellite operators. Geomagnetic storms can bring down communications and power grids in extreme circumstances. According to Spaceweather.com, the impending geomagnetic storm could be a strong G3 level.
Meanwhile, in a previous report from Science Times, violent solar activity was recorded in 2021. The solar storm was very strong that it made a scientific first - it hit the Earth, Moon, and Mars simultaneously. Earth and Mars were on opposite sides of the Sun when it occurred.
RELATED ARTICLE: Sunspot Releases Huge X-Class Solar Flare; Cannibal Coronal Mass Ejection Brings Northern Lights in Places They Are Not Typically Seen
Check out more news and information on Solar Flares in Science Times.
