US Government Issues Severe Geomagnetic Storm Watch

Prepare for communications and GPS disruptions…

For the first time since 2005, the Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a G4 (severe) geomagnetic storm watch. The northern lights, caused by solar wind interacting with particles in Earth's magnetic field, may be visible tonight/tomorrow morning as far south as Alabama.

Besides the supercharged light show, the radiation from the coronal mass ejections colliding with Earth's magnetic field could trigger significant technological difficulties.

Sudden fluctuations in the upper atmosphere could disrupt electronics in spacecraft and satellites, and that's just for starters, as CNN reports:

Moreover, the changes to the ionosphere can block or degrade radio transmissions trying to pass through the atmosphere to reach satellites. And they can also prevent radio transmissions from successfully bouncing off the ionosphere — which some radio operators normally do to increase the range of their signals.

Since GPS satellites depend on signals penetrating the ionosphere, the geomagnetic disturbance scientists are expecting could affect that critical technology used by planes, ocean-going vessels, and in the agriculture and oil and gas industries. And it could affect shortwave radio transmissions used by ships and aircraft, emergency management agencies, the military and even ham radio operators, all of whom rely on the high frequency radio airwaves that NOAA says could be scattered by the storm.

“Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth's surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations,” NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center said in a release. “SWPC has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action.”

Consumer wireless networks rely on different radio frequencies than the high frequency band, so it appears unlikely that the storm will directly affect cellular service. The GPS features on your phone also typically use a mix of pure GPS and cellular tower-based location tracking, so even if GPS signals are disrupted, phone users may still be able to maintain a rough location fix.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

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