[LeArc] FEMA Announces Severe Solar Weather

[Duane Whittingham]

FEMA Announces Severe Solar Weather

Text from the 14 Dec Situation Report:

Sunspots Causing Communication Failures

On December 12, 2006 the NOAA observed a solar radiation storm on the 
Sun that produced a powerful and fast Earth-directed coronal mass 
ejection that is expected to impact the earth around 1:00 EST on 
December 14th. The result of this significant geomagnetic storm is a 
potential adverse effect on satellite communications, HF and VHF 
mid-latitude radio communications, long-line telephone systems, 
powergrids (potentially causing blackouts), oil and gas pipelines, as 
well as VLF navigation and GPS systems.

A sunspot is a region on the Sun's surface (photosphere) that is 
marked by intense magnetic activity. NOAA monitors these occurrences 
and issues Space Advisory Bulletins and Space Weather 
Scales,introduced as a way to communicate to the general public the 
current and future space weather conditions and their possible 
effects onpeople and systems. The NOAA Scales describe the 
environmental disturbances for three types of events: geomagnetic 
storms, solar radiation storms, and radio blackouts. They list 
possible effects at each level.

This solar storm occurrence is Bulletin #06-4 (severe). For the next 
five days we could experience HF radio communication blackouts on 
most of the sunlit side of the Earth for one or two hours. Outages of 
low-frequency signals could cause minor satellite navigation 
disruptions on the sunlit side of the earth.

Further information on NOAA Space Weather Scale for Radio Blackouts 
available at:

NOAA Space Weather Advisories, Space Environmental Center
<http://sec.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/index.html#GeomagneticStorms>http://sec.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/index.html#GeomagneticStorms 


Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
<http://www.fema.gov/>http://www.fema.gov/


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Amateur Radio Operator
Duane Whittingham - N9SSN
Skywarn, ARES/RACES, EMA/ESDA
Red Cross Volunteer & SATERN Member