Tag Archives: Coronal Mass Ejections

X-class solar flare causes radio blackout

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X-class-Flare

(Image source: Screen capture from NASA video)

(Source: Discovery News)

The sun has erupted with its first X-class solar flare of 2015, a not-so-subtle reminder that it can still muster the energy required to generate the most powerful class of solar explosion.

The magnetic eruption occurred yesterday (Wednesday) at 12:22 p.m. ET (16:22 UT), lighting up a huge area in the lower solar corona (the sun’s magnetically dominated ‘atmosphere’). Shortly after the huge eruption, that measured X2 on the scale of flare energy, Spaceweather.com reports a radio blackout was detected over large swathes of the globe, including much of the Americas.

“The X-flare scrambled the ionosphere thoroughly so that no decametric radio signals were supported in my part of the world,” said amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft. “The ionosphere started to reform after about fifteen minutes when stations began to reappear. (The stuff visible during the blackout was my own observatory electricity. Nothing exterior.)”

Based in New Mexico, Ashcraft reports that the blackout was most obvious in the frequency range of 15 MHz to 26 MHz.

[Continue reading at Discovery News…]

Good news? There may be some HF band openings in the wake of this flare. We shall see.

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Radio blackout: X-Ray Event exceeds X1

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latest_sxi

I’ve heard from several of you this morning that the shortwave bands are dead.

It’s not your radio…it’s our sun. We’re currently experiencing an X-ray event exceeding X1 on the NOAA Space Weather Scale. This equates to wide area blackout of HF radio communication and loss of radio contact for about an hour on sunlit side of Earth.

SWLing Post reader, Richard Langley, shares this space weather alert from NOAA:

Space Weather Message Code: SUMX01
Serial Number: 105
Issue Time: 2014 Oct 22 1454 UTC

SUMMARY: X-ray Event exceeded X1
Begin Time: 2014 Oct 22 1402 UTC
Maximum Time: 2014 Oct 22 1428 UTC
End Time: 2014 Oct 22 1450 UTC
X-ray Class: X1.6
Optical Class: 2b
Location: S14E13
NOAA Scale: R3 – Strong

NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at
www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales

Potential Impacts: Area of impact consists of large portions of the sunlit side of Earth, strongest at the sub-solar point.

Radio – Wide area blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication for about an hour.

Fear not, this shall eventually pass and SWLing will return to normal. Indeed, you might even catch a few rare band openings between event. I believe you can expect overall unsettled conditions near term, based on recent solar history.

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Incredible band openings tonight

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X1.6 Solar Flare, sunspot 2158 (source: Solar Ham)

X1.6 Solar Flare, sunspot 2158 (source: Solar Ham)

After an X class solar flare that caused a serious HF radio black-out earlier today, we’ve been rewarded with superb radio conditions this evening in North America.

This is, perhaps, one of the best temporary band openings I’ve experienced this year.  Unfortunately, there’s a good chance an incoming CME could wipe out the bands again in the next 12-24 hours. Check out the forecast here: http://www.solarham.net/

But who cares? The following are just some of the stations I logged on 25 and 31 meters this evening.  Note that I didn’t include all of the weak stations I could hear and I also omitted many CRI, RHC, and religious broadcasts:

Starting 22:00 UTC on 25 meters

  • 11780 RN da Amazonia
  • 11810 KBS World Radio
  • 11820 Radio Riyadh
  • 11855 Radio Aparecida
  • 11880 RHC French
  • 11915 Radio Riyadh
  • 11930 Radio Marti
  • 11940 Radio Romania International
  • 11965 RHC? (French)
  • 12050 EWTN (WEWN)

Starting 23:00 UTC on 31 meters

  • 9420 Voice of Iran
  • 9535 Radio Exterior de Espana
  • 9575 Radio Mediterranee International
  • 9620 Radio Exterior de Espana
  • 9645 Radio Bandeirantes
  • 9665 Radio Voz Missionaria (with WRM from other broadcasters)
  • 9740 Radio Romania International (Spanish)
  • 9765 Radio Romania International
  • 9795 FEBC Radio (under heavy QRM)
  • 9850 Radio Tirana
  • 9855 Radio Australia
  • 9875 Radio Free Asia (Tibetan)
  • 9900 (RA?) English
  • 9965 Radio Cairo
  • 10000 WWV

Staring 00:00 UTC on 31 meters

  • 9420 Voice of Iran, then ERT Open (VOG)
  • 9500 Radio Sultanate of Oman
  • 9520 Radio Romania International (Romanian)
  • 9535 Radio Exterior de Espana
  • 9550 Radio Boa Ventade
  • 9570 China Radio International English
  • 9530 Radio Transmundial
  • 9620 Radio Exterior de Espana
  • 9630 China National Radio 1
  • 9645 Radio Bandeirantes
  • 9665 Radio Voz Missionaria
  • 9690 All India Radio
  • 9700 Radio Romania International
  • 9710 China Radio International (Portuguese)
  • 9730 Adventist World Radio (Burmese)
  • 9800 China Radio International (Spanish)
  • 9810 Radio Havana Cuba
  • 9820 Radio 9 de Julho
  • 9880 Voice of America (Chinese)
  • 9930 The Overcomer Ministry
  • 9955 Radio Marti ?
  • 9965 Radio Cairo
  • 10000 WWV

Staring at 01:00 UTC on 25 meters

  • 11580 The Overcomer Ministry
  • 11590 NHK Radio Japan (Hindi)
  • 11620 All India Radio (Urdu)
  • 11640 Radio Free Asia (Uyghur)
  • 11650 China Radio International (Chinese)
  • 11670 Radio Havana Cuba (Spanish)
  • 11695 Radio Free Asia (Tibetan) ? QRM from another station
  • 11711 Radio Argentina Exterior
  • 11730 Vatican Radio (Tamil)
  • 11740 All India Radio (Sinhala)
  • 11760 Radio Havana Cuba (Spanish)
  • 11765 Radio Tupi – Super Radio Deus e Amor
  • 11780 RN da Brasilia
  • 11815 Radio Brasil Central
  • 11825 The Overcomer Ministry
  • 11840 Radio Havana Cuba (Spanish)
  • 11855 Radio Aparecida
  • 11870 EWTN – WEWN (Spanish)
  • 11905 Sri Lanka BC (English/Hindi)
  • 11925 Radio Bandeirantes
  • 11945 Radio Free Asia (Uyghur) & jamming noise
  • 11955 Radio Romania International (French)
  • 11980 China Radio International (Amoy) – vy faint
  • 11995 BBC (Hindi) vy faint
  • 12005 Voice of Vietnam (English)
  • 12020 Voice of America – Deewa Radio (Pashto)
  • 12025 UNID (Spanish / religious)
  • 12070 POssible Radio Cairo behind strong jamming or transmitter noise
  • 12105 WTWW (English)
  • 12115 Radio Free Asia (Burmese)?

Enjoy this opening while it lasts! As my buddy Mike (K8RAT) suggested earlier today, we may be rewarded with further openings if the incoming CME only glances Earth–not probable, but possible.

I’m curious how conditions have been in other parts of the world? If you’ve been enjoying this band opening, please comment with stations you’ve logged.

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Geomagnetic storms in weekend forecast

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(Source: SpaceWeather.com)

(Source: SpaceWeather.com)

Heads up! Geomagnetic storms may make it a challenge to hear the test broadcast of Hamburger Lokalradio this weekend or any shortwave broadcaster for that matter.

Full details at Spaceweather.com and the ARRL (below):

(Source: ARRL)

Spaceweather.com reports a strong geomagnetic storm is in progress as Earth passes through a region of south-pointing magnetism in the solar wind. The storm has generated auroral displays as far south as Kansas in the US. The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center indicates the storm is a G3 level event. WWV announced at 0900 UTC, “Geomagnetic storms reaching the G3 level are likely” over the next 24 hours. NOAA says that in a G3 level storm, HF radio may be intermittent. Calculated band conditions reported on the DX Summit site indicate “poor” conditions on 80 through 10 meters. WWV reported the estimated planetary K index at 0900 UTC was 5 (the 0600 UTC figure was 7). […] A coronal mass ejection (CME) is expected to deliver a glancing blow to Earth’s magnetic field late on June 30 or early on July 1.

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Massive solar flare launches CME – poor propagation today

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(Source: SpaceWeather.com)

(Source: SpaceWeather.com)

(Source: Discovery News)

The sun has unleashed the biggest solar flare of the year, quickly followed by an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME). Both phenomena have the potential to impact communications and electronics on Earth and in orbit.

[…]A CME is a magnetic ‘bubble’ containing high-energy solar particles. When the CME hits Earth’s global magnetic field, it may align just right to generate a geomagnetic storm. Should this happen, we’ll be able to measure the extreme magnetic distortion of the magnetosphere and bright aurorae at high latitudes may result. Aurorae are caused when solar particles are injected into the polar regions via the Earth’s magnetic field — the particles then collide with atmospheric gases, generating a beautiful light display.

This morning’s CME was clocked traveling at a breakneck speed of 600 miles per second — at that rate it should hit Earth in the early hours of Saturday morning (April 13).

Shortly after the M-class flare erupted, a weak solar energetic particle (SEP) event was detected. This “radiation storm” was the result of relativistic particles slamming into the Earth’s upper atmosphere originating from the flare site.[…]

Read the full news article on Discovery News.

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Massive sunspots appear, solar flares could follow

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(Source: NASA/SDO/AIA/HMI/Goddard Space Flight Center via CSM)

(Source: NASA/SDO/AIA/HMI/Goddard Space Flight Center via CSM)

(Source: Christian Science Monitor)

A colossal sunspot on the surface of the sun is large enough to swallow six Earths whole, and could trigger solar flares this week, NASA scientists say.

The giant sunspot was captured on camera by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory as it swelled to enormous proportions over the 48 hours spanning Tuesday and Wednesday (Feb. 19 and 20).[…]

“It has grown to over six Earth diameters across, but its full extent is hard to judge since the spot lies on a sphere, not a flat disk,” wrote NASA spokeswomanKaren Fox, of the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in an image description.

[S]ome of the intense magnetic fields in the sunspot region are pointing in opposite directions, making it ripe for solar activity.

“This is a fairly unstable configuration that scientists know can lead to eruptions of radiation on the sun called solar flares,” Fox explained.

Propagation in the higher portions of the HF band could be very interesting over the course of the next few days.  If a solar flare erupts, however, it could make shortwave listening quite difficult.

Thanks for the tip, Bill!

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Wired: Listen to a Solar Flare Drown Out Radio Communications on Earth

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(Photo: NASA via Wired)

(Photo: NASA via Wired)

(Source: Wired)

Over the weekend, a tiny spot on the sun erupted into a moderately sized solar flare that was particularly loud in radio waves. With the sound of a roaring wave, it completely drowned out radio communication all over the Earth between 28 MHz and 21.1 MHz.

The recording [found on this page] comes from either a short wave radio station or a Ham radio transmission, said amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft, who works with NASA’s Radio JOVE project. It’s interesting to hear the voices get “swallowed up as the solar wave passes through,” he added in an e-mail to Wired.[…]

Read the full article on Wired.

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