Sept. 7, 2005 — 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.
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.
"This event created a complete blackout of high frequency communications on the daylit side of Earth, which included the entire U.S. and basically anywhere the sun was shinning at this time," said Combs. "Communications used by emergency services along the Gulf Coast may have experienced problems due to this flare. Low frequency navigation systems may also have experienced a period of significant degradation," he added.
NOAA is continuously monitoring the Earth's atmosphere—from the sun to the sea. Data used to provide space weather services are contributed by NOAA, U.S. Air Force, NASA, National Science Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey, the International Space Environment Services and other observatories, universities and institutions.
The NOAA Space Environment Center, one of the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction, is home to the nation's early warning system for solar activities that directly affect people and equipment on Earth and in space. SEC's 24 hour-a-day, 7 days-a-week operations are critical in protecting space and ground-based assets. Through the SEC, NOAA and the U.S. Air Force jointly operate the space weather operations center that continuously monitors, analyzes and forecasts the environment between the sun and Earth. In addition to the data gathered from NOAA and NASA satellites, the center receives real-time solar and geophysical information from ground-based observatories around the world. NOAA space weather forecasters use the data to predict solar and geomagnetic activity and issue worldwide alerts of extreme events.
NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources.
http://www.lmsal.com/solarsoft/last_events/
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/forecasts/d.../0907daypre.txt
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/forecasts/RSGA/0907RSGA.txt
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/alerts/index.html