The super-active sunspot responsible for unleashing the three most powerful solar flares of 2013 within a 24-hour stretch this week is slowly rotating toward Earth and will likely be facing our planet by the weekend, experts say. ... Scientists give AR1748 a 40 to 50 percent chance of firing off another X-class flare, he added, though this probability is a rough estimate that could change as further information becomes available.While this just doesn't apply to aviation (lots of drivers couldn't find their asses anymore with both hands if they didn't have a GPS), it's worth noting that the eventually-to-be-decommissioned VOR network doesn't have anywhere near that degree of susceptibility to solar flares.
X-class flares aimed at Earth can have consequences on a planet-wide scale, triggering widespread radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms.
Earth-directed CMEs have even more destructive potential. When a CME's charged particles interact with Earth's magnetic field, they can spawn geomagnetic storms powerful enough to disrupt GPS signals, radio communications and power grids.
My recollection was that LORAN-C signals could be affected, but not the stations themselves. How strong (and what polarity) a CME must be in order to fry a GPS satellite is not something that I know. But I suspect that is not at all improbable and at a CME-strength that is far less than a Carrington Event.
2 comments:
"...the eventually-to-be-decommissioned VOR network doesn't have anywhere near that degree of susceptibility to solar flares."
I remember reading about western military experts smirking when they found out the Russians were using vacuum tubes in their newest fighters... until they realized that vacuum tubes are so much safer in an EMP environment.
Actually they are bringing back E-LORAN... It's been determined to be an excellent 'fallback' if the SHTF...
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