Solar flares can disrupt telecommunication and satellite-based services in India and other parts of South East Asia in the coming days predicts solar physicists. With a large number of sunspots likely to face Earthwards soon, the Sun might continue to send electromagnetic radiations towards the Earth. The Earth has been facing solar flares frequently since April 15, said the data gathered by the Centre of Excellence in Space Sciences India (CESSI), operating at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata. There have been two X class and 13 M class (second highest intensity in Watts / m2) solar flares reported since April 15
An intense solar flare again hit the Earth on Wednesday between 9 am and 10.30 am affecting the South East Asian countries. Physicists had further found that Wednesday’s solar flare was caused by it was the sunspot number AR12992. The peak of the flare lasted for about 30 minutes recorded at 9.27 IST, reaching an intensity of 2.2 x 10^-4 Watts / m^2.
Solar flares originate from the Sun’s active regions, like sunspots (the darker areas on the solar surface). These bursts of electromagnetic radiation that interfere with electromagnetic rays from satellites and telecommunication towers can last from a few minutes to some hours. They end up hitting GPS-based services, and space station operations — especially the sunlight side. High-frequency radio signals can be completely lost or rendered of poor quality due to solar flares.
Yoshita Baruah, a first-year Ph.D. student at IISER, Kolkata explained to The Indian express that solar flares can lead to ionization in the lower ionospheric levels. Radio signals in the 3 to 30 MHz radio band are used for aviation and weather services, among others can get lost due to these flares.
Physicists have noted that at least two large sunspots in the northeast quadrant of the Sun (identified as 2993 and 2994). have been observed to be active and possessing magnetic complexities. These have significant potential to emit flares during the next three days, said the latest forecast issued by the Space Weather Prediction Centre at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Wednesday.
During the past few days, the solar wind speed had increased. At present solar wind speed is 556 km/second on Wednesday. The Sun had shown a similar active phase during the end of March as well informed fifth-year Ph.D. student at IISER Kolkata Suvadip Sinha who is also studying flaring events was a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).