this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024

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Solar Storm to Hit Earth Today Causing GPS and Radio Disruption (www.newsweek.com)

submitted 10 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Solar Storm to Hit Earth Today Causing GPS and Radio Disruption::A coronal mass ejection will trigger a geomagnetic storm, which can impact technology and cause the Northern Lights to be seen further south.

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[–] Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz 30 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Absolutely nothing happened, we barely even got a rise in the Kp index.

And what's with all these fearmongering articles lately always claiming that a "massive" burst is gong to disrupt radios and GPS? Has anyone even seen this happen in recent history? I mean sure, if you get a burst strong enough to be seeing aurora as far south as Texas in the US then you might be getting into the region of affecting communications, but they keep pushing these warnings for solar bursts that aren't even strong enough to trigger aurora over the continental US.

[–] UnpopularCrow@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

While I agree with the fear mongering on solar storms, it is quite common for radio disruptions and GPS interference from solar storms. HF radios used by airlines and HAM radio operators work by bouncing light waves off the bottom of the ionosphere (~ 100km). When storms hit, it rapidly heats this region up, which causes expansion downward. This results in the radio waves either being absorbed or reflecting at lower altitudes causing communication difficulties. GPS satellites work by bouncing light between a transmitter (the satellite) and a receiver (your car for example). Solar storms produce showers of additional electrons that interfere with the light waves between the satellite and ground based instrumentation. These are fairly common occurrences during moderate geomagnetic activity that happens frequently during solar maximum and even solar minimum. Large storms are much less frequent (maybe a handful of times during each solar maximum) and that’s when you get continental aurora and total radio blackouts.

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I don’t really think this is a matter of “fear mongering”, just warnings of what might happen so people know what to expect. Thankfully, there wasn’t much disruption that we noticed. My Wi-Fi and cell phone signal has been especially crappy today, but that could be unrelated.

Anyway, it’s not like the government had us all running into bunkers or anything. The articles I read simply warned of possible unreliability through the event.

No biggie.

[–] YeetPics@mander.xyz 2 points 10 months ago

And what's with all these fearmongering articles lately always claiming that a "massive" burst is gong to disrupt radios and GPS?

We're approaching solar maximum and a repeat of the Carrington event would destroy SO much of our infrastructure. it makes sense to be aware of such events and their sources.

[–] db2@lemmy.world 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This was the worst one. The whole earth exploded, I died 3 times.

[–] vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Did you have any continues?

[–] db2@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

IDDQD

[–] obinice@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

Actually it was yesterday, rather than later today.

Strange that the news is picking up on solar weather lately, it's neat for us radio amateurs but it's not overly useful knowledge for the general public 99.9% of the time.

[–] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Have any of these storms hit hard enough for the southern lights to be visible in places in the southern hemisphere outside the antarctic?

[–] Kanzar@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Aurora Australis can be seen even in Northern Victoria, but definitely far better visibility further south.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 1 points 10 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

A geomagnetic storm is expected to surge across the Earth's atmosphere later today as a plume of solar plasma hits our planet.

This chunk of the sun was spat out on Sunday as a magnetic filament erupted from the star's surface, with the coronal mass ejection (CME) set to collide with the Earth at around 1 p.m.

The CME collision could lead to geomagnetic storms as intense as G2-class or even G3-class, which may trigger GPS issues, satellite problems, and auroras seen much further south than usual.

Amateur radio & #GPS users, expect disruptions on Earth's nightside," space weather physicist Tamitha Skov posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.

CMEs are triggered by magnetic activity on the sun's surface flinging out huge volumes of solar plasma.

"Whilst these storms cannot harm us or nature directly, they are disruptive and potentially very damaging to technology," Huw Morgan, head of the Solar Physics group at Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom, told Newsweek.

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