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Impact of intense solar activity cycle "solar flare" on Japan - Emphasizing the need to be aware of major communication disruptions
- Writing language: Korean
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Base country: Japan
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- Information Technology
0000-00-00 00:00:00
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Summarized by durumis AI
- Since the beginning of May, solar activity has been intense, with frequent occurrences of solar flares, resulting in charged particles reaching Earth and affecting communications.
- Experts have warned that 5 X-class solar flares occurred in May, potentially causing GPS location service errors of up to 10 meters.
- Experts predict that the solar activity cycle will peak around 2024. They warn that a super-large solar flare, which occurs once every 100 years, could cause communication disruptions for two weeks.
Since the beginning of May, a period of intense solar activity has been observed, with frequent solar flares, which are explosions on the sun's surface. As a result, charged gas emitted from the sun is reaching Earth, causing some repercussions in certain areas.
Solar flares are explosions on the surface of the sun, mainly occurring near sunspots. In May, there have been five X-class solar flares, the largest class, in just two days, indicating a high level of intensity.
These solar flares can affect communications for several days as charged particles reach Earth. Experts warn that this could cause location errors of up to 10 meters in location-based services using GPS.
Fumiki Toya, professor at the Solar-Terrestrial Plasma Atmosphere Research Center at Tohoku University, explained, "Location errors of several meters to a maximum of 10 meters could occur in car navigation systems using GPS. While the current impact is not extreme, it is important to keep an eye on the situation as the peak of the solar cycle is expected around 2024."
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, if a super-sized solar flare, which occurs once every 100 years, were to occur, it is expected to cause serious communication disruptions, including intermittent interruptions to smartphone communications and calls for about two weeks.
The sun exhibits a cycle of activity that increases and decreases approximately every 11 years. We are currently in the 25th solar cycle, which began in December 2020. While experts predict this cycle to be less active than the previous one, the need for preparedness against solar activity remains.
