Solar storm rains upon Earth

On Jan. 29, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) detected a solar flare, followed by a coronal mass ejection. Two days later, charged plasma particles struck the Earth's atmosphere, marking the third and final phase of the coronal mass ejection. During such, a burst of solar wind, with super charged particles, shoot from the sun and fall into the atmosphere.

Solar storms are not rare, as over 2,000 of them can occur within an average 11-year solar cycle. The solar cycle is a naturally occurring shift in the amount of radiation that the sun emits. However, solar flares like this one are rare, as it contains a proton storm, which is a wave of super charged protons.

This solar storm ranked an S3 out of S5 on the NOAA's solar radiation storm scale, which measures the levels of radiation that occur when the numbers of energetic particles increase. An S3 storm is a strong storm that can expose airplane passengers to high dosages of radiation on high altitude flights and flights over the Polar Regions. In effect, this has forced flight companies to redirect flights and fly at lower altitudes. Astronauts are also at risk of being introduced to large amounts of radiation from the solar storm.

This storm is part of a larger coronal mass ejection. The first wave of a coronal mass ejection is X-ray radiation, causing long distance radio transmissions to potentially fail, and can reach Earth within ten minutes of the flare.

The second wave arrives within roughly an hour after the flare, and can cause satellites and can cause problems ranging from errors to spitting out gibberish data.

The third wave is the front of charged particles that can interfere with airplane navigation systems to the point that planes may need to be rerouted.

There have been cases in previous solar storms when charged particles caused satellites to fail. Peter Orland, a physics professor at Baruch noted that solar flares do have the potential to interrupt communication satellites and in extreme cases can cause satellites to fail. An example of this is the October 2003 failure of ADEOS-II, a $600 million Japanese satellite.

The wave of charged particles can reach up to five million miles per an hour, reaching the earth in roughly two to three days.  The biggest risk to those on the ground is the power systems. As Orland notes, "[Solar flares] can cause errors in communication satellites."

This can be affected by geomagnetic storms, a product of charged particles entering our atmosphere

Scientists predict this geomagnetic storm to be a G2 on the Geomantic storms scale, which measure disturbances in the geomagnetic field caused by gusts in the solar wind that blows into the atmosphere. Apparently the storm will only slightly affect electric utilities, according to NOAA's website.

Utility infrastructure will be able to adapt. However, a strong intensity of charged particles can take down electrical utilities.

"Industries and utility services have the knowledge to deal with a threat like this," said Baruch student Kenneth Rhodes, who during his time in the military dealt with various satellite technologies. "Satellites are obviously built to deal with this, and electrical companies will have precautions against these natural phenomenon."

Industries and organizations that rely heavily on extremely accurate Global Positioning Satellite data will notice the effects of the storm. Industries from flight and transportation to oil drilling and even the military will feel the effects.

According to NOAA's website, the occurrence of solar storms is only going to increase as the Earth shifts into the new solar maximum starting next year.