[Geowanking] GPS and solar flares

[Gabe Lamarche]

This morning I noticed a blurb in my weekly NewScientist email that caught
my attention..
*
Stormy times for GPS*

Solar flares can drown out GPS signals with potentially serious consequences
for airlines, emergency services, and anyone relying on satellite
navigation.

It turns out these bursts of charged particles, which produce auroras and
geomagnetic storms, also generate radio waves in the 1.2 and
1.6-gigahertzbands used by GPS.

How was such a clash missed? Because GPS receivers only became common during
a period of low solar activity. By 2011 solar flares will reach the peak of
their cycle and receivers will likely fail. Or so Alessandro Cerruti of
Cornell University, New York, told a meeting of the Institute of Navigation
in Fort Worth, Texas, last week. The only solution would be to redesign GPS
receivers or satellites, which may not be practical, says Cerruti.

A quick google search turned up the following article.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Sept06/solar.flares.gps.TO.html
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