NASA Warns Solar Activity Could Cause Power and Communications Disruptions

What Happened?

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued a warning this week that increasing solar activity could disrupt communications and even power grids on Earth. According to NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, the active part of the sun is rotating to face Earth, and at the same time the sun is approaching its solar maximum.

One solar flare, classified as an X2.7 flare, the highest category possible for a solar flare, has already triggered radio blackouts across parts of the Middle East. In a subsequent statement NASA said the increased solar activity could disrupt ‘radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.’

Why it Matters

The sun regularly undergoes an eleven-year cycle of activity, including the reversal of its magnetic field which causes the sun's plasma to become stormy and more active. This year that activity will reach its highest point, which is called the solar maximum. 

According to NASA, disruptions from solar flares can also be accompanied by auroras from coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Which is when charged particles from the Sun pass through the Earth’s atmosphere and create colorful displays known as the Northern Lights or Southern Lights. High frequency radio transmissions are especially vulnerable to disruption when they encounter solar particles in Earth’s atmosphere. 

Despite being ninety-four million miles away from the sun, the earth can still be significantly affected by solar emissions. Every second the sun converts six hundred and fifty million tons of hydrogen into helium through an ongoing fusion reaction which gives off light and heat, but also produces a wide variety of electromagnetic emissions which constantly bombard Earth. Much of the time those emissions are harmless but when they strengthen sufficiently, as during the solar maximum, they can cause disruptions.

During the solar maximum, the reversal of the sun’s magnetic fields can cause solar storms, which emit strong bursts of highly charged particles through space. As NASA says on its website ‘Solar storms typically begin when twisted magnetic fields on the sun get contorted and stretched so much that they snap and reconnect (in a process called magnetic reconnection), releasing large amounts of energy.’

Solar flares also increase during the sun’s peak activity period. Solar flares are the most powerful explosions in the solar system — the biggest ones can have as much energy as ’a billion hydrogen bombs,’ according to NASA.

How it Affects You

Disruptions on earth can include temporary power outages, loss of radio signals, and even global positioning systems (GPS) can be affected. Smartphone applications including Google Maps use GPS, so the solar activity could cause Google Maps to temporarily stop working.

For most people the disruptions will be minor, but some regions could see a more substantial impact as the Middle East did this week.