NASA Satellite Detects Solar Flare Resulting in Power Outages in US and Canada
Earlier reports stated that solar winds were anticipated to hit the Earth on June 21, but as of now, they have not yet arrived. However, a more significant danger emerged late last night when a potent solar flare explosion happened on the Sun. The eruption, classified as an X-class solar flare, occurred on a new sunspot called AR3341. The flare’s impact was so intense that it caused shortwave radio blackouts across North America, including significant portions of the USA and Canada. Additionally, a coronal mass ejection (CME) cloud was observed escaping, causing concern among researchers.
According to a SpaceWeather.com report, “The new sunspot AR3341 erupted on June 20, producing X1.1 solar shear. Radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere. This caused a deep shortwave radio outage in North America.” The report also mentioned that pilots and radio amateurs could have noticed a loss of signal “on frequencies below 30 MHz for up to 20 minutes after the alarm”.
A solar flare causes power outages on Earth
The most worrying part of the solar flare is the presence of a CME, which the report also confirmed. The NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) observed a “bright and fast” CME emanating from the explosion site. According to early forecasts, the Earth may not be in the shock zone, but nothing can be said for sure until the NOAA forecast models arrive.
Class X solar shear CMEs are classified as Type II solar radio emission and are strong enough to bring even G5 class geomagnetic storms to Earth. They are powerful enough to disrupt GPS, wireless communications and radio waves, but also to damage power grids and sensitive electronics such as pacemakers and supercomputers. A geomagnetic storm must be extremely strong to damage surface-level electronics, radios, and other wireless communications, but if it is, it can have very dangerous consequences for humanity.
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.
