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The Effects of Solar Flares Put on the Earth

According to NASA, no one yet knows exactly what causes solar flares. They do know they begin when, for unknown reasons, a sunspot, or a place where strong magnetic fields poke through the sun's surface, become unstable and explodes with the energy of 10 billion hydrogen bombs.

This explosion is seen from Earth as a flash of light and X-ray called a solar flare. Its radiation, source of trouble and beauty on Earth, can reach here 18 to 28 minutes later.

Communications
- By far, this is the most significant way most people are affected by solar flares. When a flare's X-ray energy hits the ionosphere, it suddenly becomes more ionized, changing its density and the location of its layers and resulting in a mass of free electrons. These free electrons in the ionosphere cause it to thicken, which interferes with many types of radio waves. Solar flare interference is especially notorious for damaging satellite data, including GPS results.
Auroras
- Auroras, or the northern and southern lights, are the most beautiful and least harmless effect of solar flares on Earth. The ionosphere is weakest around the auroral oval, the ring between 63 and 65 degrees latitude surrounding the magnetic poles.
  
  The magnetic poles guide fast-moving solar particles to Earth along lines in the magnetic field. Light is generated when these electrons collide with particles in the upper atmosphere around 60 miles above ground.
Air and Space Travel
- The atmosphere blocks out most of the harmful radiation solar flares cause. Pilots and frequent air travelers, particularly those who often fly around the poles, do not receive this protection at high altitudes and over time their health often suffers because of it. Pilots and cabin crew have higher instances of cancer due to exposure to radiation.
  
  Astronauts have it worse. Exposure to proton storms caused by solar flares could be lethal.
Blackout
- Some NASA scientists predict that in 2013 a 22-year peak in the sun's magnetic energy cycle occurring alongside the zenith of the sun's 11-year flare cycle, could result in a solar "super storm" that would produce huge levels of radiation and cause blackouts on a massive scale.
  
  GPS, air travel, financial services, emergency radio communications and power grids could potentially be knocked out for hours or days. According to "The Telegraph," the UK predicts it would cause "twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina" did New Orleans. The British government has begun taking precautions.

Astronomy