Solar flares are explosive bursts of soft X-ray radiation (0.1–1 nm), triggered by intense magnetic fields around sunspots. ![]() A solar flare courtesy of NOAA, May 2023 When this energetic radiation reaches Earth it enhances the D-region of the ionosphere, causing "fadeout" and/or "radio blackout" events. Flares can last from tens of seconds to several hours. ![]() Solar X-ray flares usually occur in active regions on the Sun, marked by strong magnetic fields associated with sunspot groups. The intensity of solar flares is classified based on peak emission in the 0.1 - 0.8 nanometes. NOAA categorizes flares into different levels: A, B, C, M, and X. Radio blackouts are classified using a six-level NOAA Space Weather Scale, R0-R5. The correlation between the solar flare classification and radio blackout scale:
Radio Blackout Scale:
The recent 3 days of solar flares | The current solar flare
The project "Understanding HF Propagation," focuses on skywave propagation, shows near-real-time indices and explains what the terms mean. |