Because of the increased magnetic activity on the Sun during sunspot periods, solar storms send increased amounts of electromagnetic radiation in the form of plasma and highly charged particles, what is called the solar wind, toward the Earth.

In addition, sunspots produce bright auroras (Northern and Southern Lights) on Earth, and dangerous proton storms in space.

In the past, earth-orbiting space satellites have failed due to sunspots. Astronauts orbiting in the International Space Station and inside the space shuttles have to be extra careful when working and living in space during these times.

For additional information on sunspots and sunspot cycles, go to the Space Today article “Did You Say the Sun has Spots?”

NOAA is working with many other organizations around the world to setup in the future a global monitoring network called Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).

Consisting of orbiting space satellites, ground-based stations, and airplane-flown observatories, the integrated network of GEOSS will eventually help to observe, predict, and protect the people of Earth from increased magnetic activity coming from the Sun.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s GEOSS’ website is: http://www.epa.gov/geoss/basic.html.

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