Blackout on Earth from Solar Flare Eruption, NASA Satellite Shows; Will the solar storm also knock?

Yesterday, it was reported that several highly active regions on the Sun were spotted on the far side of the Earth which are threatening our planet with some powerful solar storms. But even before that, one of the Earth-facing sunspots, AR3331, became unstable yesterday, June 9, and produced an M2.5-class solar flare. The event was observed by the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The eruption sparked short-wave radio blackouts across Mexico and the southern region of the United States, marking the second such event this week. Earlier this week, a similar explosion caused a power outage in Africa. Astronomers are now trying to find out whether a solar storm will occur after the explosion.

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

second blackout in a week

After a three-week period without much solar activity, the Sun is gearing up for a period of intense activity. No solar storms may have been observed this week, but solar flare eruptions and resulting blackouts have been frequent. Three days earlier, a solar storm caused blackouts over the African continent, disrupting wireless communications for 90 minutes. And yesterday, the Gulf of Mexico came under fire as it lost shortwave frequencies for half an hour.

The ionizing effects that cause blackouts can disrupt radio communications, GPS services and drone activity, as well as delaying flights and leaving ships at sea without much reception.

But this is not the end of the problems either. Researchers should look for any signs of coronal mass ejection (CME) release after the flare as it could spark a solar storm in the next two days.

How the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory monitors solar activity

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