Solar Physicist Says Weak Sun Produces Record Solar Outburst

[Lmhr]

Source: New Jersey Institute of Technology
Date: December 16, 2006
A solar outburst, which can play havoc with global positioning systems and cell phone reception, bombarded Earth, Dec. 6, 2006, with a record amount of radio noise, said solar physicist Dale Gary. Gary, who confirmed the news today, is a professor and chair of the department of physics at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). "Reports of significant events worldwide are still coming in as late as yesterday afternoon," said Gary. Due to a computer software failure, initial research reports in the U.S. downplayed the outbursts.

"The odd thing about this outburst was that the Sun is supposed to be at the minimum phase of its 11-year cycle," said Gary. "Nevertheless, the disruption lasted more than an hour, produced a record amount of radio noise, and caused massive disruptions of Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receivers world wide."

Since 1997, Gary has directed Owens Valley Solar Array (OVSA), one of the world's leading research facilities to study the sun's impact upon earth. Using special instruments, Gary and researchers at NJIT's Center for Solar-Terrestial Research study solar outbursts. The National Science Foundation and NASA support the work.

A complex sunspot on the Sun was responsible for the outburst, which occurred Dec. 6, 2006 at 3:45 p.m. EST, said Gary. Before the outburst, the radio output of the Sun in the GPS broadcasting band was 54 on the scale of solar flux units. During the outburst, associated with a large solar flare, the radio noise reached around 1 million solar flux units, according OVSA instruments.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1216104705.htm