Solar Flares: NASA GPS Concerns

[Christopher O'Brien]

[h=2]Solar Flare Activity Prompting NASA to Convene a News Briefing Thursday in Washington\[/h]Article HERE: My Weather Tech
Increasing solar activity and the threat that coronal mass ejections (CME) pose to Earth has prompted NASA to convene a news briefing at its Headquarter building in Washington on Thursday afternoon.


Thursday's briefing has been arranged, space agency officials say, in light of new information coming from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), spacecraft and other NASA probes. The briefing will feature new details about the structure of solar storms and the impact they have on Earth.

The briefing panellists are Madhulika Guhathakurta, STEREO program scientist; Craig DeForest, staff scientist, Southwest Research Institute, David Webb, research physicist, Institute for Scientific Research, Boston College; and Alysha Reinard, research scientist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado.

The briefing will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website at 2:00 PM EDT (7:00 PM GMT).

A massive solar flare, the largest recorded in four years, occurred last Tuesday prompting fears the blast could result in some disruption to Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) or communication signals around the world ,,,
[SNIP] rest HERE: My Weather Tech.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

That's some scary stuff.

Here's another article:
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_18678275

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Here is some even scarier stuff:

Did solar flares cause the London riots?
8-15-11

There's some evidence that solar flares can affect our behavior, our health — and even our stock markets

Article HERE:

When it comes to factors that triggered the London riots, theories abound: Police brutality, unemployment, and "moral collapse" have all been blamed for the violence, burning, and looting that consumed London last week. But some scientists are finger-pointing skyward, suggesting that the sun could have driven the unrest, as well as last week’s wild stock market fluctuations. A series of powerful solar flares – sometimes known as geomagnetic storms – hit the earth last week, and there’s some evidence that the solar storms can have a profound effect on human health and behavior. Here, a brief guide:
What exactly are solar flares?
A solar flare occurs when, in a single burst, the sun throws off a mind-boggling amount of electromagnetic energy — the equivalent, in some cases, of several million 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time. The energy from these flares — which cause the Northern lights (aurora borealis) and other atmospheric events — reaches the Earth a few days later.

How bad were last week's solar storms?
Powerful enough to make the Northern lights visible as far south as Colorado. That said, earth has experienced much stronger storms. After an 1859 solar "superstorm," telegraph wires across Europe and North America spontaneously shorted out, countless fires ignited worldwide, and the Northern lights were visible in Havana, Cuba. Still, last week’s storms had government officials warning of possible disruptions to GPS systems and telecommunication equipment.

Can solar storms really affect human health and behavior?
Yes, at least according to some research. British scientists have found that hospital admissions for depression increase in the days following a solar flare, especially among men. Russian scientists also claim that the rate of suicides increases after a solar storm, particularly at the farthest northern latitudes, where geomagnetic energy is strongest; this study confirms an earlier Australian study that found similar results. Nobody’s really sure, though, how geomagnetic activity affects our bodies and minds.

Could they affect the stock market?
Maybe. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta published a report in 2003 that found traders were more likely to make pessimistic choices after geomagnetic storms. "Unusually high levels of geomagnetic activity have a negative, statistically and economically significant effect on the following week's stock returns," say the report’s authors, as quoted inNewsDaily.com.
Is the worst over?
For now, yes. The "space weather forecast" for the near future is for calm, quiet solar activity. But researchers warn that the sun’s solar flares occur in regular cycles, and between now and 2013, scientists are predicting a big increase in the number and severity of solar storms.

 

[pixelsmith]

watch them spin it as a human caused event.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

Here's more:
Nasa's 2013 solar flare warning: how much do we need to worry? Telegraph Blogs

Less doom and gloom.

 

[trainedobserver]

watch them spin it as a human caused event.

Everyone knows solar flares are caused by Al Gore's acid re-flux

 

[truthseeker]

watch them spin it as a human caused event.

Solar flares are caused by CO2 emissions, everybody knows that. Just ask Al Gore