Before the storm makes a direct hit on Earth, a solar ‘tsunami’ causes a radio blackout – radiation fears

A solar storm has been brewing for some time and will make contact with the Earth’s magnetic sphere on March 31. The space weather phenomenon is caused by a disturbance in the particles emitted by the sun’s electromagnetic eruptions. It will occur after sunspot AR2975 erupted on March 28, causing a solar flare.

Sunspots form in areas with particularly strong magnetic fields and appear as a dark patch on the Sun’s surface.

A solar flare is a burst of energy caused by the tangling or crossing of magnetic field lines near sunspots.

The blast, according to SpaceWeather.com, triggered a “solar tsunami” that charged through the Sun’s atmosphere.

According to space weather physicist Tamitha Skov, the M-4 class flare caused radio blackouts.

This comes ahead of the solar storm, which has been building up in the days leading up to its arrival.

“Today’s M4-flare caused an R1 radio blackout, and now an S1 radiation storm is growing!” Ms Skov tweeted.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “solar radiation storms occur when a large-scale magnetic eruption, frequently resulting in a coronal mass ejection and associated solar flare, accelerates charged particles in the solar atmosphere to extremely high velocities.”

The NOAA’s Space Weather Scale ranks these from S1 to S5, with S1 being the lowest intensity and S5 being the highest.

Ms Skov went on: “This storm will last until March 31st, when it will be replaced by a solar storm.

“At high latitudes, expect high-frequency radio communications and GPS reception issues.”

Ms Skov also cautioned that high-risk airline passengers should be aware of elevated radiation doses “..

According to SpaceWeather.com, the “solar tsunami” has meant that “a lot of things just happened all at once.”

This tsunami was “radio-active,” sending radio waves toward Earth and destroying some radio transmissions on the blue planet.

According to SpaceWeather.com, an X-ray pulse from the solar flare “ionised the top of the atmosphere over Africa,” causing a shortwave radio blackout.