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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported on Monday that the high number of sunspots on the Earth-facing side of the Sun can become a concern as some of them could go unstable. One of the sunspots, AR3327, has finally developed a delta-class magnetic field that is considered highly reactive and dangerous. In the late hours of June 7, it exploded erupting an M4.5-class solar flare. The flare was strong enough to send strong ultraviolet radiation to Earth and spark a shortwave radio blackout over the African continent. There are fears that further solar flare eruptions are possible that can cause a potentially terrifying solar storm for the Earth.
As per a report by SpaceWeather.com, “Sunspot AR3327 has developed an unstable ‘delta-class’ magnetic field that poses a threat for strong solar flares. This morning (June 7th @ 1146 UT) it produced an M4.5-class explosion (movie) and a radio blackout over Africa”. The report also highlighted that the magnetic field around the sunspot was still detected to be highly unstable, meaning stronger solar flares are possible in the coming days.
What are shortwave radio blackouts and why should you care?
Shortwave radio blackouts are generally caused by solar flares, which are sudden eruptions of energy from the Sun. Solar flares can emit high-energy particles and electromagnetic radiation, which can travel through space and reach Earth. When these particles and radiation interact with Earth’s atmosphere, they can ionize the air molecules. This ionization can disrupt the ionosphere, a layer of charged particles in Earth’s atmosphere that is important for long-distance radio communication. When the ionosphere is disrupted, shortwave radio waves can no longer travel long distances, and shortwave radio blackouts can occur.
Strong solar flares can cause global shortwave radio blackouts that can disrupt radio communication, GPS services, and drone activities as well as delay flights and can leave ships in the ocean without any reception.
Solar flares and radio blackouts are also indicative of solar storms as often these eruptions also hurl coronal mass ejections to space that can spark solar storms 24-48 hours later.
How NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory monitors solar activity
The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) carries a full suite of instruments to observe the Sun and has been doing so since 2010. It uses three very crucial instruments to collect data from various solar activities. They include Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) which takes high-resolution measurements of the longitudinal and vector magnetic field over the entire visible solar disk, Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) which measures the Sun’s extreme ultraviolet irradiance and Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) which provides continuous full-disk observations of the solar chromosphere and corona in seven extreme ultraviolet (EUV) channels.
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