Posted on Monday, April 09 2007 @ 10:37 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Experts state a solar eruption in December temporarily disrupted the GPS navigational system.
Solar flares have been known to knock out satellites and even electricity grids, but the researchers told the Space Weather Enterprise Forum this was an unexpectedly serious new effect.
"In December, we found the effect on GPS receivers were more profound and widespread than we expected," said Paul Kintner, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Cornell University in New York.
"Now we are concerned more severe consequences will occur during the next solar maximum," Kintner said in a statement.
Dale Gary of the New Jersey Institute of Technology said the burst created 10 times more radio noise than the previous record.
