the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, are you ready for an unusual cosmic event that could affect our everyday technologies? This week, the US government issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch, signaling potential disruptions due to heightened solar activity.
What’s Happening? The sun has been unusually active lately, with significant solar flares and sunspots observed. This heightened activity has resulted in at least five earth-directed coronal mass ejections and widespread sunspots, spanning an area 16 times wider than Earth itself. This severe geomagnetic storm, categorized as G4 or “extreme,” is the first of its kind in nearly two decades.
How Does This Affect Us? The impacts of this solar activity extend to various aspects of our technological infrastructure:
- Communications: Fluctuations in the ionosphere, caused by radiation from the sun, can disrupt satellite communications and high-frequency radio transmissions. This may affect GPS systems, shortwave radio, and communication networks used in aviation, maritime navigation, and emergency services.
- Cellphones: While consumer wireless networks are less likely to be directly affected, disruptions to the power grid could indirectly impact cellular service. However, the GPS features on phones may still function using a mix of GPS and cellular tower-based location tracking.
- Power Grid: Severe space weather poses a risk to power grids, potentially causing widespread voltage control issues and tripping protective systems. Past events have led to blackouts, such as the 1989 blackout in Quebec and the 1859 Carrington Event, which damaged telegraph stations.
How to Prepare: Given the potential impacts of solar activity, it’s essential to take precautions:
- Keep extra batteries or hand-powered chargers for electronic devices.
- Disconnect electric appliances to protect them from power surges.
- Limit electricity usage during a solar weather event.
- Maintain at least a half-full gas tank in your car to avoid relying on gas stations during power outages.
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