Katrina Communications May Have Been Affected By Solar Storm (NOAA)

[theHandpuppet]

From http://www.noaa.com/

NOAA ISSUES SPACE WEATHER WARNING;
POWERFUL SOLAR FLARE ERUPTS
KATRINA COMMUNICATIONS MAY HAVE BEEN AFFECTED

Forecasters at the NOAA Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colo., Wednesday observed one of the largest solar flares on record at 1:40 p.m. EDT. The forecasters are predicting significant solar eruptions in the coming days. Agencies impacted by space weather storms may experience disruptions over the next two weeks. These include spacecraft operations, electric power systems, high frequency communications and low-frequency navigation systems.

MORE...

[trotsky]

1. Um

How could communications last week have been affected by a solar flare YESTERDAY? When you read the whole article, there is nothing about Katrina-related communications. Methinks someone is trying to provide further cover for Bushco's fuckup.

[theHandpuppet]

4. This is not the first or only flare up lately

Further on in the article...

"The very active Region 808 produced a powerful X-17 flare (R4, severe radio blackout, on the NOAA space weather scales), which was observed on the NOAA GOES satellite. "This flare, the fourth largest in the last 15 years, erupted just as the Region 808 sunspot cluster was rotating onto the visible disk of the sun," said Larry Combs, solar forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center. Intense radio emissions were also associated with this flare. A very bright and fast coronal mass ejection was observed on coronagraph imagery. However, the material was not Earth directed. Over the past two weeks, this active region has produced a series of significant solar eruptions as it made its passage around the back side of the sun with minor impacts. "

[trotsky]

6. Yes, but...

can solar flares on "the back side of the sun" have the same distruptive effects as those facing us?

[theHandpuppet]

9. I wouldn't think so

But perhaps there's a scientist here who can tell us if there's been any recent solar activity which might have effected earth's communications. The title of the article would leave one to believe the recent solar activity already HAS affected comunications. (past tense)

[htuttle]

2. I doubt that affected anything yet

I work at a place that's a (24/7) heavy user of industrial two-way FM. We've noticed a tiny bit of interference this week (which is probably not even related to the solar storm), but no service interruptions to speak of. I'm the guy they call to fix things when they break, so I'd know if there was interference -- but there's been no serious problems.

[theHandpuppet]

5. How long does it take for effects of this kind to reach Earth?

I'm no scientist so I'd be interested in the rule of scientific thumb.

[leveymg]

7. About eight minutes. n/t

[htuttle]

8. Hmm...93 million miles at the speed of light?

I think it's about eight minutes delay. (just went and looked it up -- it says 8 minutes, 19 seconds).

http://www.sunspot.noao.edu/sunspot/pr/answerbook/light.html

[theHandpuppet]

11. But what does the speed of light have to do with solar mass ejections?

Solar "light" is not the same as the solar wind, which is what affects communications systems.

[htuttle]

12. Well, I'm pretty sure it's the radiation that causes the interference

...Not the actual matter from a solar mass ejection. The radiation would travel at the speed of light.

[theHandpuppet]

Thanks!

Thanks for clearing that up.

[bribri16]

3. So now they are going to blame the SUN. Amazing! n.t

[all.of.me]

10. they'll try !!!

:popcorn:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. I would think it would be very difficult for a solar flare to affect....

...communications BEFORE it erupts from the surface of the sun.

This story is total BS.

[theHandpuppet]

14. More communications problems reported by NOAA

See NOAA home page for link

NOAA Weather Radio Status:

Commercial power and partial telecommunications to the Slidell Forecast Office have been restored. However, broadcast from the following sites has not yet been confirmed: Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Gulfport, Buras, Morgan City, and Bogalusa.

Bude and Rose Hill (Meridian) in Mississippi continue to be hampered by telcommunications failures.

One transmitter is down in the Mobile area due to telecommunications problems.

Five transmitters are down in the Lake Charles area due to telcommunications problems.

Two transmitters are down in Shreveport area due to telcommunications problems.

[BiggJawn]

16. Could this be because the antennas were carried away by Katrina?

And the Gennies have finally run out of fuel?

I would think that getting NOAA Weather Radio back on the air is not a high priority item this week.

[BiggJawn]

15. I seriously doubt "official" communications were affected.

Almost all Public Safety radios operate on the VHF and UHF part of the spectrum, from about 150 Mhz all the way up to 800Mhz. The State Police MIGHT still be on the lower frequency of 42 Mhz.

Solar events have almost NO effect at these frequencies. If anything, there may have been some confusion as the twisting of the Ionosphere let them hear radio traffic from over the horizon, since VHF and higher frequencies are usually line-of-sight only.

The biggest effect would have been to the HF (3-30 Mhz) part of the spectrum, and indeed, I was listening last night and it was rough, the SATERN network on 14 Mcs. was not heard here, and the Gulf Coast Network on 3 Mcs. was very weak, but they were "Gittin'-R-Dun".

The operators in the HF spectrum who operate the various Ham and SHARES radio networks are a resourceful bunch, and if one frequency doesn't work, plans are already in place to try alternate frequencies until they find one that does works.

[rman]

17. right... and it didn't affect communications elsewhere?

how odd.