NASA Satellite Captures Solar Flare Eruption Causing Blackouts on Earth; Risk of Solar Storm Looms?

Reports from yesterday indicate that several highly active regions on the Sun were detected on the opposite side of the Earth, posing a threat to our planet with potentially powerful solar storms. However, prior to this discovery, the Earth-facing sunspot AR3331 became unstable on June 9 and generated an M2.5-class solar flare, as observed by the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory. This event resulted in a short-wave radio blackout in Mexico and the southern United States, marking the second such occurrence this week. A similar flare earlier in the week caused blackouts in Africa. Astronomers are currently investigating whether a solar storm will follow this eruption.

According to a SpaceWeather.com report, “Sunspot AR3331 exploded on June 9 (1711 UT), producing an M2.5 solar flare. The pulse of radiation ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere. This in turn caused a small outage in shortwave radio transmissions over the Gulf of Mexico.” It was also reported that signal loss at frequencies below 15 MHz was observed for up to 30 minutes after the flare.

Second power outage in a week

After a three-week period without much solar activity, the Sun is preparing for an intense period. This week may not have seen any solar storms, but the outbursts of solar flares and resulting power outages were constant. Three days ago, a solar storm caused a blackout on the African continent, disrupting wireless communications for up to 90 minutes. And yesterday the Gulf of Mexico came under fire because it lost shortwave frequencies for half an hour.

The ionizing effect that causes blackouts can disrupt radio communications, GPS services and drone operations, as well as delaying flights and leaving ships at sea without reception.

But this is not even the end of the problems. Scientists need to look for signs of coronal mass ejection (CME) emissions after the flare, which could cause a solar storm in the next two days.

How the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory monitors solar activity

The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) houses a full suite of instruments for observing the Sun, and has done so since 2010. It uses three very important instruments to collect data on various solar activities. They include the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), which measures high-resolution longitudinal and vector magnetic fields across the entire visible solar disk, the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE), which measures the Sun’s extreme ultraviolet radiation, and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), which provides continuous full-disk observations of the solar chromosphere and the corona in seven extreme ultraviolet (EUV) channels.