A radio blackout was caused over the areas of Asia and Australia by a solar flare on Sunday, according to spaceweather.com. Solar activities are ramping up day by day after a geomagnetic storm hit Earth on Thursday (April 14), the Spaceweather.com further said.
According to American space agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), solar activity includes flares, coronal mass ejections, high-speed solar wind, and solar energetic particles. The solar magnetic field is the driving force behind all solar activity.
The spaceweather.com report said that a significant shortwave radio blackout occurred throughout Southeast Asia and Australia on April 17, as a result of an X-ray pulse from the flare: At frequencies below 30 MHz. It further said that mariners, aviators, and amateur radio operators may have noted peculiar propagation effects.
It has been confirmed by the coronagraph images from NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) that the explosion hurled a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) into space.
“Meanwhile, get ready for more flares. This sunspot group has been active for more than a week, hurling CMEs and plumes of plasma into space from its location on the far side of the sun. Now it is turning to face Earth and shows few signs of slowing down,” spaceweather.com said.
In a recent update by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), on Sunday, April 17th, an X1 flare was seen from the newly named Region 2994. A Type II radio sweep and a 10 cm radio burst were related with this R3 (Strong) occurrence.
