Earlier this month, the National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center reported that a “type IV radio emission”—a major solar eruption of charged particles known as a coronal mass ejection (CME)—was approaching the earth. CMEs are capable of disrupting Earth’s magnetic field and triggering a geomagnetic storm that could potentially damage communications satellites, radio transmissions and power grids.
Though this particular eruption did not cause more than minor power grid fluctuations, scientists theorize that the emission of more CLEs and other, more dangerous solar eruptions are a real possibility in the next few months as the sun enters the peak of its 11-year cycle of magnetic activity.
