The world waited Tuesday for billions of particles released by the sun on New Year's Eve to hit Earth, but an expert said the solar storm was “stuck in traffic.”
Dr. Tamitha Skov told that the solar wind stream ahead of the solar storm, or coronal mass ejection (CME), did not have enough force to move at the expected speed.
Skov said that “the radiation storm has increased to an official S1 level,” and NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) flags the possibility of radio frequency interference on Wednesday and Thursday.
She also revealed that parts of Earth's technology sensed parts of the storm – radio frequencies used by maritime radios, possibly Starlinks and certain television broadcasts were disrupted “for a short time.”
Dr. Tamitha Skov told that the solar wind stream before the solar storm did not have enough power to move at the expected speed. However, she said solar activity was possible for the rest of the week
Our Sun has decided to celebrate 2023 with an X5 Flare!
And now there is a 25% chance that it will knock out various orbiting satellites and our GPS system on our planet Earth TODAY!
NASA says this is the most intense solar energy release since 2017, and it has listed it as an X5 flare,… https://t.co/1P9sk8cWID pic.twitter.com/O4kyajMExf
— After Time X (@AfterTimeX) January 2, 2024
CMEs can eject billions of tons of corona material from the Sun's surface.
The edge of the storm attempts behind the front must go beyond Earth's orbit so that the energetic particles can hit our planet.
Skov explained that the delay was likely due to two reasons, the way the storm spreads through space and the weak solar winds.
“The flank (or edge) of the storm usually follows the tip (or front) because these storms (also called CMEs) expand in the solar wind as they move outward,” she said.
“This means that the tip of the storm must go beyond Earth’s orbit before the edge reaches Earth and causes an impact.”
“Of course, the side of the storm moves slower and is weaker than the peak, resulting in a weaker impact.”
Combine that with weak solar winds and you get a traffic jam.
“Just like slow traffic on a highway causes a faster car that catches up to it to forcibly slow down and travel at almost the same speed as the slower traffic in front of it,” Skov said.
The SWPC warning states that potential impacts include “minor impacts on polar HF (radio frequency) radio propagation, resulting in attenuations at lower frequencies.”
“The minor impact on Polar HF primarily concerns the radiation storm resulting in impairment of high frequency radio and GPS navigation signals for those navigating and communicating over the polar regions,” Skov said.
“Radiation storms have the greatest impact on the polar regions because Earth's magnetic shielding at the poles is 'open' to these radiation storm particles.”
This month's eruption was the sun's most powerful burst of energy since 2017, according to NASA, which captured the event with its Solar Dynamic Observatory – a probe that has been studying the sun since its launch in 2010
Skov said “the radiation storm has reached the official S1 level” and NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) flags the possibility of radio frequency interference on Wednesday and Thursday
This month's eruption was the sun's most powerful burst of energy since 2017, according to NASA, which captured the event with its Solar Dynamic Observatory – a probe that has been studying the sun since its launch in 2010.
The footage shows a glowing region on the Sun growing brighter before exploding, triggering an X5 flare – the highest level – from the edge of the massive star.
SWPC clarified that the general public had nothing to fear, but noted that the first radiation explosion on December 31 caused power outages over the Pacific Ocean.
The agency had predicted that Earth would experience a mild geomagnetic storm, a temporary disturbance in Earth's magnetosphere caused by a shock wave of solar wind, on Tuesday.
“The risk that NOAA/SWPC cites is radio outages at some level, which often, but not always, affect GPS reception,” Skov said.
She further explained that the New Year's
“I talk about this in my latest forecast (which is why I urge Airmen to check ICAO advisories for updates on impacts to radio communications and GPS navigation),” Shav said.
Skov told : “Just as slow traffic on a highway causes a faster car that catches up with him to forcibly slow down and travel at almost the same speed as the slower traffic in front of him.”
Skov also revealed that some of Earth's technology was feeling parts of the storm – radio frequencies used by maritime radios, possibly Starlinks and certain television broadcasts were disrupted “for a short time.”
The physicists also found that the same outbreak led to a deterioration of television transmission systems that use ultra-high frequency radio (UHF) for over-the-air transmission.
And SpaceX's Starlink signals may also have been disrupted “for a short period of time.”
“The radio waves (called radio bursts) affect our reception of satellite signals such as GPS and even HF radio communications,” Skov said.
“It’s like the sun is literally screaming at us during a solar flare.”
“This “scream” is much louder than our satellites can “chirp” and therefore temporarily drowns out the satellite signals.
“Still, the sun doesn’t always scream at exactly the frequencies that affect GPS signals.”