The discussions here on Poal of the various outages were full of misunderstandings of how solar flares affect us. Ben Davidson sets the record straight on the basics and says he and other experts are almost certain the Feb. 22 major flares caused the disruptions.
It’s hard to compare these effects over time because network infrastructure changes a lot decade to decade, but this seems like another sign of how vulnerable we are with our weakening magnetic field. The Feb. 22 flares were X class, but not unusually powerful.
The discussions here on Poal of the various outages were full of misunderstandings of how solar flares affect us. Ben Davidson sets the record straight on the basics and says he and other experts are almost certain the Feb. 22 major flares caused the disruptions.
It’s hard to compare these effects over time because network infrastructure changes a lot decade to decade, but this seems like another sign of how vulnerable we are with our weakening magnetic field. The Feb. 22 flares were X class, but not unusually powerful.
(post is archived)