NOAA Warns of Potential Disruptions to Communications as Solar Energy Reaches Earth
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday, 31 March, following a strong solar flare that erupted on Wednesday afternoon. The flare, classified as an X-class flare — the most intense type — originated from a sunspot group on the Sun’s northeast region, relative to Earth. This powerful burst of energy, recorded at 5:35 p.m., was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft.
The flare’s electromagnetic energy may have interfered with radio communications on Earth, particularly during the afternoon hours, according to NOAA. While the flare’s energy reached Earth nearly instantaneously due to the speed of light, observations by NOAA and NASA suggest that the flare was also linked to a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the Sun’s upper atmosphere. A CME is a massive burst of charged particles released during solar eruptions, and while it takes several hours to reach Earth, it can cause geomagnetic storms by transferring high energy into Earth’s magnetic field.
This event raises concerns about potential disruptions to satellite communications, GPS systems, and power grids, as geomagnetic storms can significantly affect the Earth’s electromagnetic environment.