Sunspots effect earth power grid or satellite?

Question

how does sunspot activity on the sun effect earths power grid and satellite communications

Answer 1

I think the previous responders are not quite right:
- The actual electromagnetic radiation produced by sunspots is not very significant: All of that is happening at the distance of the Sun, after all!
- The actual problem is the increased number of solar wind particles, as the second responder pointed out. However, these do not "burn out" the circuits of the satellites: If they did, all of our satellites would be dead by now, whereas what actually has happened is that communications have been interrupted during the period of the sunstorm.

No, what is going on is that the charged particles greatly increase the charged-particle population in the upper atmosphere, especially in the polar regions. This "enriches" the plasma with more charge-carriers, effectively increasing the conductivity of the plasma. But that causes it to be difficult for electromagnetic waves to persist in the plasma: just as a metal conducting box blocks electromagnetic radiation ("Faraday cage"), the enriched plasma blocks the propagation of electromagnetic waves.

When the sunstorm ends, the flux of charged particles drops down to normal, the density of charged particles in the upper atmosphere drops to normal, and the satellites are able to work uninterrupted again.

Answer 2

Sun spots are the result of severe distortions of the Sun's magnetic field's lines of force. These distortions can also cause huge amounts of solar particles to be ejected into space. These are all electrically charged particles, which is why an electromagnetic field affects them. If the path of these far flung particles intersects the Earth's orbit, thus striking the earth's magnetic field, most are deflected around and away from us. Sometimes, however, a strong enough flare's particles can make it all the way to the surface. This is what happened in parts of Canada back in 1989. Satellites orbit where they do not have the full, if any, protection of the Earth's magnetic field. When the flare hits them it acts like a massive EMP which can potentially fry out all the circuits in the multi-million dollar satellites.

Answer 3

Large amounts of electromagnitism induce currents in the small wiring of the satellites and the large wiring of the power grid, causing voltage and current fluctuations