Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct with respect to possible effects of solar storms on earth? i. Disruption of GP…

Question

Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct with respect to possible effects of solar storms on earth?

i. Disruption of GPS navigation and satellite communications

ii. Destruction of power grids

iii. Tsunamis at equatorial regions

iv. Intense auroras all over the Earth

Select the answer using the code given below.

1. A. i and ii only
2. B. i and iii only
3. C. i, ii and iii only
4. D. i, ii and iv only (Correct answer)

Correct Answer

Option D — i, ii and iv only

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is i, ii and iv only.

Key Points

• Statement i is correct. Solar storms disrupt GPS navigation and satellite communications. The disturbed ionosphere delays and scatters radio signals, degrading positioning accuracy and causing HF radio blackouts.
• Statement ii is correct. A severe geomagnetic storm can damage power grids. Rapid changes in the geomagnetic field induce geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in long transmission lines, which saturate and can destroy high-voltage transformers.
• Statement iii is incorrect. Solar storms do not cause tsunamis. Tsunamis are generated by submarine earthquakes, landslides or volcanic eruptions — displacement of water, not electromagnetic disturbance.
• Statement iv is correct as marked. During intense storms, auroras are seen far outside their usual polar bands, appearing at mid and even low latitudes where they are never normally visible — as happened during the severe storms of May 2024.

Additional Information

• The chain of events: a solar flare releases electromagnetic radiation that reaches Earth in about 8 minutes; a coronal mass ejection (CME) hurls billions of tonnes of magnetised plasma outward, arriving in one to three days; when it meets the Earth's magnetosphere it produces a geomagnetic storm.
• Auroras form when charged particles funnelled along magnetic field lines into the polar atmosphere excite oxygen and nitrogen atoms, which emit light as they relax — oxygen giving green and red, nitrogen blue and purple. They are the aurora borealis in the north and aurora australis in the south.
• The Carrington Event of 1859 is the reference case: the most intense geomagnetic storm on record, it set telegraph systems on fire and produced auroras visible near the equator. A comparable event today would be far more damaging, given the dependence on satellites and grids.
• The solar cycle runs about 11 years from minimum to minimum, tracked by sunspot number. Solar Cycle 25 peaked around 2024-25, which is why storm activity has been high.
• India's Aditya-L1, launched in September 2023 and placed in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L1 point in January 2024, carries seven payloads including the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) to study the corona, CMEs and space weather. NASA's Parker Solar Probe and the ESA-NASA Solar Orbiter pursue the same questions from closer in.
• The Earth's magnetic field is the shield that makes all this survivable, deflecting the solar wind and confining most particle precipitation to the polar regions.