New data on solar flares investigated

BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 7 (UPI) -- NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has provided new insights into solar flares that could lead to improved space weather forecasting, U.S. researchers say.

A $32 million instrument on the SDO, designed and built by the University of Colorado at Boulder, shows energy from some solar flares is stronger and lasts longer than previously thought.

Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots, and when that energy reaches Earth's atmosphere it can affect operations of Earth-orbiting communication and navigation satellites.

The CU-Boulder EVE instrument found radiation from solar flares sometimes continues for up to five hours beyond the initial few minutes of a solar flare occurrence, and that the total energy from this extended phase of the solar flare sometimes has more energy than the initial event.

"If we can get these new results into space weather prediction models, we should be able to more reliably forecast solar events and their effects on our communication and navigation systems on Earth," Tom Woods of the CU-Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics said in a university release Wednesday.

"It will take some time and effort, but it is important."