Our society has increasingly been relying on the Global Positioning System (GPS) and now GPS receivers may be in jeopardy due to solar bursts and other space weather.

The cause for their concern, Johnson said, was an unexpected solar radio burst on December 6 that affected virtually every GPS receiver on the lighted half of Earth. Some receivers had a reduction in accuracy while others completely lost the ability to determine position, he said.

Solar activity rises and falls in 11-year cycles, with the next peak expected in 2011.

If that increasing level of activity produces more such radio bursts the GPS system could be seriously affected, the researchers said.

Although there are two possible ways to shield the system, this is a wake up call to learn more about the sun's behavior and improve technology.

Trackback URL for this post: