Solar Flare 2011: Northern Lights Amplified, Communications And Power Grids Could Be Disrupted

A series of massive solar flares that have erupted from the sun in recent days could trigger a dazzling show of the northern lights for stargazers in the northern United States, but they could also have far more serious consequences, including the disruption of power grids and communication systems across the globe.

According to BBC News, waves of charged solar particles will be hitting the Earth's magnetic field over the course of Thursday and Friday, the result of three solar flares happening over the past few days, including the largest to occur since 2006.

While this means the northern lights, Aurora Borealis, may be visible much further south than usual (for example, in the northern United States and UK), the solar flares' impact could have serious technological ramifications, as well.

According to China's official Xinhua News Agency, electromagnetic activity from the solar flares have already jammed shortwave radio communications in the southern part of the country.

A statement from the U.S. National Weather Service says that geomagnetic storms resulting from solar flares like these can last 24 to 48 hours, though some can continue longer. "Ground to air, ship to shore, shortwave broadcast and amateur radio are vulnerable to disruption during geomagnetic storms. Navigation systems like GPS can also be adversely affected," the statement reads.

According to the AFP, in 1973 a magnetic storm from a solar flare caused 6 million people to lose electricity in Canada.

CLICK HERE to view some incredible animated photos from NASA of the massive 2011 solar flare, the sun's largest eruption in 4 years.

Comments

[personal beliefs]

03:07 PM on 02/21/2011

cool, now lets wait and see how good our scientists are at predicting the future. I bet they fail miserably.

[mamacat]

04:49 AM on 02/21/2011

This article is dated Feb. 17, and the geomagnetic storm that is warned about did not happen.
Such storms have happened in the past, and will happen again, but we missed the worst of it this time.

[Angie Cordeiro]

03:47 PM on 02/20/2011

Be Prepared:

Home Made Wind Turbine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaP3paR32-Y

The Humanure Handbook - Center of the Humanure Universe
http://humanurehandbook.com/

Problem solved...NEXT :-)

[Eileenla]

08:27 AM on 02/20/2011

If it wipes the electronic databases that store our financial debts, I'm all for it!

[smolensk-lies]

01:42 PM on 02/18/2011

from pole to pole is about 12,700km - or 12,700,000 meters (through the earth)

sometime watch your water go down a drain (counter clockwise in the northern hemi)

5 meters north of the equator, you can take a bowl of water, poke a hole in the bottom, and watch the water start to circulate counterclockwise and drain out. walk south 10 meters, and watch the entire bowl of water change in its drainage to clockwise

a movement of 10 meters of 12,700,000 ( or 20,000,000 on the surface) can cause a drastic change - this is less than 1/1,000,000

the milky way galaxy is about 1000 light years thick . who is to say that a slight deviation by the sun in the center of the galactic plane of only 1/1000 light year cannot have a drastic effect on the magnetic properties of the sun/earth ??

Hannes Alfven did the work in magnetohydrodynamics, pretty interesting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetohydrodynamics

[Dr Juan]

08:43 PM on 02/18/2011

It looks like th earth has a magnetic field because, it is a conductor cutting through the solar field.
If the earths magnetic field is declining - does that indicate the suns magnetic field is diminishing? Or is there an even larger galactic field to consider too?

[palindrom]

09:21 PM on 02/19/2011

Dr. J., the earth's magnetic field and the sun's magnetic field don't affect each other too much (though the magnetopause, where the earth's influence ends, is a complicated, changing thing). The earth's field is caused by the dynamo effect operating deep within the core, where the sun can't get at it, and the earth is far too puny to have any effect on the sun. There are other things to worry about ...

[palindrom]

09:19 PM on 02/19/2011

The drain thing is an old saw that isn't true.

"who is to say that a slight deviation of the galactic plane of only 1/1000 light year cannot have a drastic effect on the magnetic properties of the sun/earth ??".

Well, to answer your rhetorical question, there is a sizable community of space plasma physicists who study such things. They are the ones "to say" that it won't have an effect, and I'm sure that's what they say. The Galaxy has a very weak magnetic field compared to the earth's, so there's nothing to worry about on that score. Incidentally, they do all know the work of Alfven very well -- Alfven waves are bread-and-butter in a space plasma physics course.

[smolensk-lies]

10:15 AM on 02/21/2011

videos on youtube and common sense contradict you
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHT9Ar-Y7RE

[mario59]

12:34 PM on 02/18/2011

Even though I grudgingly have become wired and wireless, I still can't accept that people are so willing to buy into the current telecommun­ications industrial complex. If the US Postal Service and the wired telephone system completely goes away (and many predict it will) we will be 100% dependent on wireless phone and internet corporatio­ns for our communicat­ions. As this article states, one big solar flare and we could be back to 1500 AD again! Doesn't this bother anyone that we are losing our offline communicat­ion systems?

[Y3rMawm]

01:05 PM on 02/18/2011

Not in the least. It would be a good thing it we actually had to start looking each other in the eyes again. Wired phones are run by the same corporations, who have government protected monopolies....you have no choice.

1500's? Hardly. Even still, such an event might theoretically soften the impact of AGW...or whatever Newspeak you wish to use.

[Bike Commuter]

05:17 PM on 02/18/2011

I tend to agree, but I would point out that the wired phone service is not a government protected monopoly anymore. That protection was removed about 15 years ago. Now any company can go into an area and sell local phone service. The telephone company is even required to allow the new company access to the copper phone lines that run to the houses.

[Bike Commuter]

05:14 PM on 02/18/2011

We would not go back to 1500. Even if the systems were disabled, they would be rebuilt rather quickly. Communication would still happen because of shortwave radio. It would be tough for awhile, but we wouldn't completely fall apart.

[mario59]

05:27 PM on 02/18/2011

The upside would be there would be a demand for workers to rebuild the communications system!

[ninetailedfox]

06:53 AM on 02/18/2011

Weve destroyed the planet, humans have failed. the christians will be demanding another planet to destroy. I dont think that will be allowed this time.

[William J Unverferth Sr]

08:30 AM on 02/18/2011

Walter tango foxtrot does this have to do with a solar flare? Don't tell me it's because of global warming....

[ninetailedfox]

09:43 AM on 02/18/2011

Global warming affect the sunlight that hits the planet. Not to mention all the lovely toxic waste we put into the environment thanks to industrialization,

[thetokensquare]

12:48 PM on 02/18/2011

Well, since we've destroyed it, might as well enjoy what years we might have left, no? Just a little sarcasm in the morning. Oh, the reference to Christians in the pejorative wasn't necessary.

[MikeWebster]

02:31 AM on 02/18/2011

Mike Beard has promised that God will stop this.

[StephenJK]

05:26 AM on 02/18/2011

Yeah, Chuck Norris and his trusty sidekick, God, will stop this!

[smolensk-lies]

02:04 AM on 02/18/2011

great research paper from a guy in Finland - lays out solar cycles over a period of a few thousand years, and explains how we are at a convergence of multiple cycles, including a 400 year one.
great analysis on 10Be also from ice core samples

http://solarphysics.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrsp-2008-3/download/lrsp-2008-3Color.pdf

[Dr Juan]

07:55 AM on 02/18/2011

He says we are living through a solar grand maximum in these recent years - but does not tie it in with global warming - I guess the cap and traders and the global warming lobby got to him.

[smolensk-lies]

01:48 PM on 02/18/2011

i assure you no politics have affected him and his research is facts only

his research is more intended on describing solar history, and using it to predict future solar activity, and not earth bound phenomena

[Dr Juan]

11:44 PM on 02/17/2011

I'm selling foil hats - order now and be prepared.

[ninetailedfox]

06:54 AM on 02/18/2011

Goodie, i needed some foil to grill steaks with.

[Heidland]

11:29 PM on 02/17/2011

So the massive solar storm could disrupt cellular and broadcast transmissions?

How long would FOX end up being off the air, and is the disruption really a bad thing?

[SmartLib247]

02:16 AM on 02/18/2011

Yea, the US will be much better off without facts...

[MikeWebster]

02:24 AM on 02/18/2011

You mean it's much better off with FOX broadcasting?

[NostradamnIsuck]

10:16 PM on 02/17/2011

Probably a good day to tan...

[Kringle]

09:39 PM on 02/17/2011

Plausible deniability for information control as revolution seems to be breaking out all over the world?

Is this why Obama is having a closed-door meeting with Apple and Facebook? Is the civil unrest in Wisconsin and the midwest reason enough...following similar unrest throughout the middle east?

If, in fact, this IS true...isn't it reason enough to decentralize the "Grid"? Home-based energy and communications are a systemic redundancy that is far more likely to ensure continuity, no?

...not to mention Energy and Information Freedom.

[palindrom]

11:02 PM on 02/17/2011

What?

[smolensk-lies]

02:06 AM on 02/18/2011

your vigilence is commendable, but might i suggest a possible 'rouge' EMP that somehow happens just as a training exercise is underway as an alternative?

[palindrom]

09:24 PM on 02/19/2011

"rouge"? As in the women's pink face powder? I think you mean "rogue".

There was a parody of Palin's autobiography entitled "Going Rouge".