Earth is expected to face powerful solar storms as scientists predict the arrival of ‘solar maximum’ in 2024, Daily Mail reported. These flares are projected to be potent enough to disrupt the world’s internet for weeks.
Indian researchers predict solar maximum could arrive in 2024 and cripple the world’s internet for weeks
Roughly every 11 years, the sun experiences something called ‘solar maximum.’ During this time, peculiar dark spots, called ‘sunspots,’ show up on its surface.
These sunspots, sometimes grouping together like islands, happen due to big shifts in the sun’s magnetic field. They can release powerful bursts of energy, leading to ‘solar storms’ that might harm satellites and mess with the internet.
The latest prediction is from a group of Indian researchers, and it differs from NASA‘s recent forecast, which expects it to happen in late 2025.
Dr. Dibyendu Nandi, a physicist from the IISER Kolkata Center of Excellence in Space Sciences in India, led the new study. According to him, it’s too soon to tell how strong and what effects the solar storms might have, but we’ll likely find out more as the new year gets closer.
“The most intense storms can sometimes result in catastrophic orbital decay of low Earth-orbiting satellites and disrupt satellite-based services such as communications and navigational networks,” the physicist told Mail Online.
“They can also induce strong disturbances in the geomagnetic field tripping electric power grids located in high latitude regions. Of course, they also create beautiful auroras so we can expect 2024 to be a good year for aurora hunters,” he added.
The challenge of predicting extreme space weather
The scientists mention that figuring out precisely when this peak will happen – and, as a result, when the most extreme space weather will affect Earth – has been tricky.
We understand that solar cycles typically happen about every 11 years – but Dr. Nandi clarifies that this is just an average.
Using their recent insights, scientists employed their newfound understanding to forecast precisely when the solar maximum of the current cycle would reach its peak.
‘Predicting the time of maximum amplitude of sunspot cycle is important for gauging when the most adverse space environmental conditions (space weather) are expected,’ the researchers stated.
