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Solar Storms 'Perfectly Normal': Scientist
Solar storms are a "perfectly normal phenomenon" when the sun becomes active, and should not be viewed as a sign of natural disaster, a Chinese scientist said Thursday.
However, warned Professor Wang Huaning, a well-known solar activity forecaster, attention should be paid to the possible impact solar storms might have on high-tech facilities.
"The so-called solar storm is anything but a disaster," said Wang, in response to Chinese media reports that solar storms can cripple communication equipment, cause disastrous climatic changes and harm people's health.
Changes in solar activity may have a loose connection to disasters such as earthquakes, droughts and floods in the long term, Wang said.
"But I do not know whether it will jeopardize people's health," said Wang, a member of the Solar Activity Prediction Team in the National Astronomical Observatory under the China Academy of Sciences.
"What I know is that the Earth has witnessed such natural phenomena through millions of years.
"The so-called solar storm is just solar activity that occurs dramatically at the maximum of Solar Cycle 23, which happens to fall this year."
A solar cycle is usually 11 years.
Wang said that large-scale solar activity, including solar flares, coronal mass ejection (CME) and proton events occur more frequently at the maximum of a solar cycle than they do in other years.
Wang said there is no need to "stir up a tempest in the teacup" with the media reports, but people should pay attention to the possible impact of solar activity on high-tech facilities.
Influenced by the dramatic solar activity, the interaction of electromagnetic waves, charged particles and the magnetic field of the Earth may cause some abnormality in the ionosphere which, in turn, may destroy electronic devices, alter the orbit of satellites and even harm astronauts in space.
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