Space storms will cause widespread power cuts and cripple phones, satellites and railway signals, report claims
- Satellite navigation technology has never experienced a 'solar max'
- Changes in the ionosphere could cause problems with GPS
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Britain is facing crippling power cuts sparked by space storms that could scramble signals used in mobile phones, railways and satellites.
The Earth is beginning an 11-year peak in solar activity which a report claims could wipe out power at any moment.
Massive increases in the numbers of sunspots are expected to cause changes in the Earth's ionosphere, the shell of plasma at the top of our atmosphere.
This year could be one of the worst for solar storms, as surges of charged particles could knock out satellites
The effect on radio systems includes signal delay – a major problem factor for satnav, where ranging is based on timing accurate to a billionth of a second – and signal-scattering ‘scintillations’ rendering the signal unstable.
Tom Bolt, of insurance company Lloyd's, said: 'Space storms are not science fiction — they can affect everything from hospitals to banking,' The Sun reported.
But scientists are gearing up for the fierce solar storms by setting up a worldwide chain of monitoring stations to study the so-called 'solar maximum'.
The solar maximum is the period of greatest solar activity in the Sun's 11-year cycle
GET READY FOR THE SOLAR MAX
The solar maximum is the period of greatest solar activity in the Sun's 11-year cycle.
The
Sun's magnetic field lines are the most distorted at this time due to
the magnetic field on the solar equator rotating at a slightly faster
pace than at the solar poles.
This causes large numbers of sunspots appear, and the Sun's irradiance output grows by about 0.1 per cent.
The
increased energy output of solar maxima can impact global climate and
recent studies have shown some correlation with regional weather
patterns.
The
solar cycle takes an average of about 11 years to go from one solar
maximum to the next, with an observed variation in duration of 9 to 14
years for any given solar cycle.
Large
solar flares often occur during a maximum. For example, the Solar storm
of 1859 struck the Earth with such intensity the northern lights could
be seen as far south as Rome.
The
last solar maximum was in 2000. In 2006 NASA initially expected a solar
maximum in 2010 or 2011, and thought that it could be the strongest
since 1958.
However, more recent projections say the maximum should arrive in autumn of 2013 and be the smallest sunspot cycle since 1906. The solar maximum is the period of greatest solar activity in the Sun's 11-year cycle.
The Sun's magnetic field lines are the most distorted at this time due to the magnetic field on the solar equator rotating at a slightly faster pace than at the solar poles.
This causes large numbers of sunspots appear, and the Sun's irradiance output grows by about 0.1 per cent.
The increased energy output of solar maxima can impact global climate and recent studies have shown some correlation with regional weather patterns.
The solar cycle takes an average of about 11 years to go from one solar maximum to the next, with an observed variation in duration of 9 to 14 years for any given solar cycle.
Large solar flares often occur during a maximum. For example, the Solar storm of 1859 struck the Earth with such intensity the northern lights could be seen as far south as Rome.
The last solar maximum was in 2000. In 2006 NASA initially expected a solar maximum in 2010 or 2011, and thought that it could be the strongest since 1958.
However, more recent projections say the maximum should arrive in autumn of 2013 and be the smallest sunspot cycle since 1906.
Activity increasing: This graph shows how solar
and geomagnetic indices
are on the rise again after a lull following the last solar max.
Sun spot levels are shown in orange; solar flux levels, showing total
energy output, are green; geomagnetic indices tracking magnetic storm
levels around Earth are in blue and pink
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