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* By Randolph E Schmid in Washington
* From: AP
* August 06, 2011 6:39AM THE impact of a series of eruptions on the Sun began arriving at Earth
today and could affect some communications for a day or so.
Operators of electrical grids in the United States are working to avoid
outages, but the country's National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration says some satellite communications and Global Positioning
Systems could face problems. Three solar flares erupted on the sun starting on Tuesday, and the
strongest electromagnetic shocks were being felt today by the ACE
spacecraft, a satellite that measures radiation bursts a few minutes
before they strike Earth, said Joseph Kunches, a scientist at NOAA's
Space Weather Prediction Centre in Colorado. Tom Bogdan, director of the centre, said the sun is going from a quiet
period into a busier cycle for solar flares, and an increase in the
number of such blasts is expected over the next three to five years. Solar flares send out bursts of electromagnetic energy that strike the
Earth's magnetic field. The most common impacts for the average person
are the glowing auroras around the north and south poles, and the
researchers say those could be visible this weekend. The magnetic blasts, which Mr Bogdan likened to a tsunami in space, can
also affect electronic communications and electrical systems. A 1989 solar flare knocked out the electrical systems in Quebec, Canada,
but the current solar storm is not expected to be that powerful. On a
scale of one to five, he said, it is probably a two or three. But more significant solar storms are expected in the next few years, he
said. The most powerful known solar storm occurred in 1859, Mr Bogdan said.
There were not as many vulnerable electrical items then, but it did
knock out telegraph services, even burning down some telegraph stations,
he said. Other serious solar blasts occurred in 1921 and 1940, he noted, and Mr
Kunches recalled one on Halloween in 2003.
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