GPS may be disrupted on 3/8 and 3/9

[Target9000]

Solar storm heads for Earth – Light Years - CNN.com Blogs

Just FYI.

I anxiously await the paper chart and celestial nav folks own flare up at this news.

[nigel1]

From what I heard on the radio last night, unless you are interested in accuracy to a fraction of an inch, these solar storms will have little effect on GPS

[Target9000]

If you listen to CNN you'd think satellites are going to fall on our heads and computers will explode.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Target9000

If you listen to CNN you'd think satellites are going to fall on our heads and computers will explode.

And on Fox it's all down to Obamacare .

[Blue Stocking]

Originally Posted by Target9000

If you listen to CNN you'd think satellites are going to fall on our heads and computers will explode.

You mean like what happened at the stroke of 2K.

[Cpt Pat]

Here is the actual warning from NOAA. I've added emphasis. Note that they warn of "loss of lock." In other words, GPS is rendered unusable - you might as well turn it off. That's quite a bit worse than a "fraction of an inch" error mentioned above.

Aviation GPS receivers certified for instrument approaches are required to have Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) because it's acknowledged that GPS can undergo disruptions.

The sky isn't falling, but the Sun can toss us some pretty impressive stuff. Those who think they can rely entirely on GPS all of the time are deluding themselves. It's best to always have a Plan B.


Space Weather Message Code: WARK07
Serial Number: 36
Issue Time: 2012 Mar 09 1146 UTC

EXTENDED WARNING: Geomagnetic K-index of 7 or greater expected
Extension to Serial Number: 35
Valid From: 2012 Mar 09 0700 UTC
Now Valid Until: 2012 Mar 09 1500 UTC
Warning Condition: Persistence

NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at
NOAA Space Weather Scales

Potential Impacts: Area of impact primarily poleward of 50 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude.
Induced Currents - Power system voltage irregularities possible, false alarms may be triggered on some protection devices.
Spacecraft - Systems may experience surface charging; increased drag on low Earth-orbit satellites and orientation problems may occur.
Navigation - Intermittent satellite navigation (GPS) problems, including loss-of-lock and increased range error may occur.
Radio - HF (high frequency) radio may be intermittent.
Aurora - Aurora may be seen as low as Pennsylvania to Iowa to Oregon.