Solar Storm Alert: Explosion from the Sun Causes Radio Blackouts Across Australia, Southeast Asia

Radio blackouts from a solar storm earlier this week struck areas across Australia and Southeast Asia, disrupting radio frequencies in the region, according to reports on Tuesday, February 6. The communication-disrupting space weather hazard arrived on Earth on Tuesday following a massive explosion from the Sun caused by a giant solar flare on Monday, February 5.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Tuesday issued a radio blackout warning regarding the recent space weather event. It warned that a 10-centimeter radio burst or an electromagnetic burst connected with the solar flare is relatively significant. Reports on Tuesday indicate that some radio operators and mariners in the region experienced the disruption.

In recent years, similar radio blackout phenomena from solar storms had been reported in Australia and Southeast Asia. The impact of these highly-energized particles varies depending on the amount of solar energy released by a solar storm. The most notable and powerful of these space storms was the Carrington Event of 1859, which was felt globally and even damaged multiple telegraph stations.

Radio Blackouts in Australia, Southeast Asia

The massive solar explosion and radio blackouts in Australia and Southeast Asia, as mentioned earlier, was caused by a long-duration solar flare, which occurred at 8:30 p.m. ET (local time) and reached our planet shortly after 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday. Since then, the NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) shows there is a 45% of further communication disruptions this week.

The solar storm consisting of massive plume of energized particles travelled through space at almost 1 million miles per hour to cause communication blackouts in the region. There were no reports that the space weather hazard occurred in other parts of the world. Less than a month ago, similar events have been reported off the coast of the Western US and South America.

NOAA Radio Blackout Warning

Prior to the reported blackouts in Australia and Southeast Australia, the NOAA warned that the solar flare-related significant radio noise is generally short-lived but can disrupt radar, global positioning system (GPS), and satellite communications. Furthermore, the US Government agency issued a new solar storm alert on Wednesday, February 7, for the risk of further radio blackouts in the coming days.

In its latest update, the SWPC on Wednesday stated that there is a potential for another limited radio blackout affecting high frequency radio communication for tens of minutes. The blackout can affect remote radio devices and similar built-in equipment on aircraft and vehicles. Furthermore, a geomagnetic storm is also expected to be accompanied by the space weather hazard.

Radio blackouts are caused by powerful bursts of x-ray and extreme ultra violet rays released by solar flares, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The most common effect of these blackouts is loss of radio contact, which can last for several minutes to an hour, especially for low-frequency navigation signals.