Strongest solar storm since 2005 hitting Earth today

The sun is currently in the process of bombarding the Earth with a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), the largest solar storm since 2005. Fortunately, there’s no reason to panic.

The solar flare is a powerful one; the NOAA rates it as S3, or “strong”, which is two steps below “severe” and “extreme” in the agency’s 5-point scale for measuring the strength of a CME. Still, it’s worth noting that while there may be no health risks involved, satellite and ground communication may be temporarily disrupted.

“With all the technology of our advanced civilization, solar storms can have significant effects on communication, power, things like that,” said UC Berkeley physicist Robert Lin. “The really big ones can have an enormous effect on space weather on the Earth.”

Radiation levels in the upper atmosphere will see an increase as well, increasing the risk of radiation exposure to passengers flying at high altitudes along the polar routes, where the Earth’s magnetic field will carry the radiation. As a precaution, many airliners will be avoiding North Pole routes for the duration of the storm, NOAA physicist Doug Biesecker told Gizmodo.

The CME, which is expected to reach Earth by 9 a.m. ET and continue on into Wednesday, could result in auroras being seen as far south as New York, Biesecker says.

[Image credit: NASA]