Maximum activity in the sun’s current 11-year cycle1 likely will occur in May 2013. By then, aircraft operators conducting flights on polar routes might not be the only aviation industry segment affected by scenarios that only recently seemed like science fiction (ASW, 6/07, p. 22). Space weather scientists and natural disaster specialists lately point to these flights to convince the rest of society that other solar concerns on the horizon are just as real as the threat of disrupted high-frequency (HF) radio communication.
During the third week of February 2011, airlines rerouted polar flights away from the poles to avoid the possibility of unusable HF radios, said Jane Lubchenco, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “That, in turn, re…
