Why tonight’s massive solar storm could disrupt communications and GPS systems

Buckle up: An unusual amount of solar activity this week could disrupt some of the most important technologies society relies on.

Buckle up: An unusual amount of solar activity this week could disrupt some of the most important technologies society relies on. On Thursday, the US government issued its first severe geomagnetic storm watch in nearly 20 years, advising the public of “at least five earth-directed coronal mass ejections” as well as sunspots covering an area 16 times wider than the earth itself. Radiation from this activity will begin to hit Earth’s magnetic field on Friday and last through the weekend, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA’s severe space weather watch suggests the storm could trigger numerous effects for life on Earth, possibly affecting the power grid as well as satellite and high frequency radio communications. Here’s what that means for technology users. The solar activity NOAA’s talking about involves the release of energy from the sun that travels through space and eventually reaches Earth. When that radiation hits the magnetic sphere surrounding the planet, it causes fluctuations in the ionosphere, a layer of the upper atmosphere.