[KL7AA] FW: Huge solar flare said to jam China communications

[Allen R. Brier]

FYI too

 

Allen Brier N5XZ / KL5DX 
1515 Windloch Lane 
Richmond, TX 77406-2533 
281-342-1882 
713-705-4801 (Cell) 
n5xz at arrl.net 

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From: Jeff Braun [mailto:braunjef at co.fort-bend.tx.us] 
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 7:18 AM
To: Jeff Braun
Subject: Huge solar flare said to jam China communications

 



  

Huge solar flare said to jam China communications 

WASHINGTON, February 17, 2011 (AFP) - The sun has unleashed its strongest
flare in four years, NASA said Wednesday, as astronomers in southern China
reported disturbances to radio communications.

The massive Class X flash -- the largest such category -- erupted at 0156
GMT Tuesday, according to the US space agency.

"X-class flares are the most powerful of all solar events that can trigger
radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms," disturbing
telecommunications and electric grids, NASA added.

The China Meteorological Administration reported a large solar flare and
electromagnetic storms jammed shortwave radio communications in southern
China, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

It also said the flare caused "sudden ionospheric disturbances" in the
atmosphere above China and the CMA warned there was a high probability that
large solar flares would appear over the next three days.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory saw a large coronal mass ejection
associated with the flash that is blasting toward Earth at about 560 miles
per second (900 kilometers per second). The CME was expected to reach the
planet's orbit at 0300 GMT Thursday.

The flare spread from Active Region 1158 in the sun's southern hemisphere,
which had so far lagged behind the northern hemisphere in flash activity.

It followed several smaller M-class and C-class flares in recent days.

In previous major disturbance of the Earth's electric grid from a solar
incident, in 1973, a magnetic storm caused by a solar eruption plunged six
million people into the dark in Canada's eastern-central Quebec province.

Media Analysis and Watch Center 
USSTRATCOM Foreign Media Analysis Program
SOS International Ltd. 

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