The Sun just unleashed a powerful solar flare that triggered radio blackouts on Earth
The Sun has once again unleashed a powerful solar flare and this time it triggered radio blackouts.
The flare, which happened at 1.40pm yesterday afternoon, led to a shortwave radio blackout which disrupted high frequency radio signals for different areas of the Atlantic Ocean and the southern hemisphere including in South America, and Africa.
This type of solar flare can impact radio communications, electric power grids, and navigation signals all around the world. It can even pose risks to spacecraft, astronauts and increase radiation exposure to high-altitude aircrafts.
Experts have repeatedly warned that a particularly strong solar flare could damage critical parts of infrastructure that life depends on. When a particularly strong flare happens, the explosion of particles and energy can disturb the Earth’s own magnetic field.
When this occurs, it is known as a geomagnetic storm. In May, multiple coronal mass ejections lead to the strongest geomagnetic storm and massively impacted the US precision industry, which uses GPS to help improve crop yields and make farms more efficient.
Yesterday’s flare was released from the sunspot region AR 3883.
Sunspots are darker, cooler areas on the sun which could be the size of planets. They can also denote where the sun’s strong magnetic field comes up to the surface.
The flare, which was the sunspot’s strongest yet, has been classed as X2.3, which belongs to the most intense X class of flares, Nasa says.
Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots and are our solar system’s largest explosive events. They are seen as bright areas on the sun and can last from minutes to hours.
The latest was spotted by Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is constantly monitoring the surface of the Sun.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Space Weather Prediction Centre (SWPC) said the flare came in at a R3-Strong level on the scale.
This scale is specific for radio blackouts and reveals the different kinds of impacts the solar flares could have on Earth. In this case, it led to a shortwave radio blackout.
It doesn’t look like the Sun’s weather will be calming anytime soon. As the Sun enters the peak of its 11-year-old solar cycle, such solar weather is likely to increase.
However, flares of this strength are ‘generally not common, although not necessarily unusual’ when the Sun is at its solar maximum, the NOAA’s SWPC said.
The SWPC added there was a risk of more, although less, intense ones, and it is possible that it could continue throughout the week.
We can typically spot solar flares by the light it releases, and they tend to be observed in x-rays and in optical light. These are also areas where particles such as electrons, protons and heavier particles are accelerated.
However, increased solar activity is also the reason why we have been seeing the northern lights more frequently and further south than we usually do.
Solar flares are not directly responsible for the aurora borealis. The lights are caused by a phenomenon known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that erupt from an active sun spot. Combined with flares, they can create solar storms that interact with Earth’s magnetic field or magnetosphere.
The CMEs blast out plasma and magnetic fields, and up to billions of tons of material that can hit Earth. As our magnetosphere repels the storm, it creates the aurora.