Just recently, we were treated to an amazing display of auroras caused by a bunch of powerful X-class solar flares. These spectacular sky lights were visible over an unusually large area, reaching places like Florida and northern Europe. Behind the scenes, scientists from NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR) were busily collecting critical data on how these solar storms influenced the upper atmosphere of our planet.
With a new radio telescope network, researchers at NJIT have been tracking the fallout from these remarkable celestial events. Between November 9 and 14, a remarkable sequence of flares unfolded, including an X5.1 flare that turned out to be the strongest recorded in 2025 so far. These flares significantly impacted the ionosphere—an essential layer of our atmosphere that supports radio signals, GPS, and satellite paths.
The flares even caused R3 (strong) radio blackouts affecting Europe and Africa. Several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) led to a major geomagnetic storm, producing glowing auroras much further south than usual.
All these activity kicked off from a single active sunspot region known as AR4274. Bin Chen, a professor of physics at NJIT-CSTR and director of the Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA), found the timing impressive. “Seeing four X-class flares from the same spot in just a few days is definitely not routine”, he said. We saw an X1.7 flare on November 9, followed by an X1.2 on the 10th, then an X5.1 on the 11th and another X4.0 on the 14th. What stood out the most were the ripple effects these made right here on Earth!
Although these flares erupted after dark in California and were missed by NJIT’s Big Bear Solar Observatory, the Owens Valley team captured the disturbances in real-time with their robust radio telescopes.
Assessing the Storm’s Atmospheric Effects
The EOVSA alongside the recently expanded Long Wavelength Array at Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO-LWA) has enabled scientists to track the dramatic changes in the atmosphere at various radio frequencies—from the microwaves observed by EOVSA (analogous to those in satellite and Wi-Fi communications) down to meters and decameters picked up by OVRO-LWA (similar to FM radio).
Chen pointed out that usually, OVRO-LWA data demonstrates clear, vertical bursts known as type III radio bursts. However, after the series of flares, burst patterns were distorted, highlighting a clear disturbance in the ionosphere.
This whole episode was striking for ionospheric research specialists, proving to be quite insightful about our fabulous cosmic neighborhood. As Lindsay Goodwin, an assistant professor of physics and ionosphere researcher at NJIT-CSTR, emphasized, solar activities can be unpredictable. Not every solar spike results in geomagnetic storms. However, this time, the impact was undeniable.
The result was impressive—a G4 geomagnetic storm indicating significant disturbances.
According to Goodwin, the Dst index—which gauges how solar winds compress Earth’s magnetic field—tumbled from about -40 nT to nearly -250 nT in just a few hours. This marked a significant impact on our planet’s magnetic protections.
Effects on Technology and Research Developments
These charged particles impacting our atmosphere resulted in beautiful northern lights visible far beyond usual ranges, even being reported as far south as Florida. “My aurora group lit up with posts showing lights from places not often known for seeing them,” shared Goodwin.
The incident underscored the increasing capabilities of NJIT’s radio observatories. The OVRO-LWA had recently ramped up its operations for solar science, presenting new means to delve into the sun’s inner workings from around 1.5 to 10 solar radii, where magnetic activities are busy restructuring.
Both facilities, OVRO-LWA and EOVSA, now operate in harmony as a community research facility d the Owens Valley Solar Arrays (OVSA).
Chen mentioned that they are now sitting on an exciting new dataset. “The partnership between OVRO-LWA and EOVSA is fantastic, helping us to monitor space weather from its inception in the sun all the way to its effects in the upper atmosphere here on Earth,” he said.
Goodwin’s team, alongside NJIT undergrad Jeremy McLynch, is enhancing this work even further. Last summer, they deployed a precise GPS receiver named FLUMPH (which stands for Field-deployed L-band Unit for Monitoring Phase Hiccups)—jokingly called after a Dungeons & Dragons creature—next to the OVRO-LWA.
This device tracks real-time satellite navigation disruptions during solar storms. Like Goodwin explained, “Solar and geomagnetic disturbances often shake things up for radio and GPS communications. By combining GPS findings with LWA data, we create a full picture of how solar activity stirs up the ionosphere and what that means for our daily tech tools.”
Looking to the Future of Solar Storms
Currently, both Chen and Goodwin believe that the field research community is meticulously analyzing this storm’s implications. Given that our sun is at the peak of its 11-year activity cycle, we might expect similar solar storms sooner rather than later.
As Goodwin noted, scientists have only scratched the surface regarding this storm’s implications. Historically, severe solar and geomagnetic disruptions can hamper power systems, impact radio communications, and even jeopardize satellite and space travel safety. Recently, we’ve witnessed multiple significant storms, particularly because the sun is firing up towards the peak of its cycle.
As the sun quiets down, these events are likely to occur less frequently; nonetheless, they shall return roughly after 11 years. When they do, studying them intensively will be crucial since our dependency on space technologies progresses as we push further into the cosmos.
Source: New Jersey Institute of Technology
This phrase was lifted from Phys.org.
