Solar bursts may threaten GPS

[madokie]

this can't be good

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_go_ot/gps_solar


WASHINGTON - The Global Positioning System, relied on for everything from navigating cars and airplanes to transferring money between banks, may be threatened by powerful solar flares, a panel of scientists warned Wednesday.

"Our increasingly technologically dependent society is becoming increasingly vulnerable to space weather," David L. Johnson, director of the National Weather Service, said at a briefing.

GPS receivers have become widely used in recent years, using satellite signals in navigating airplanes, ships and automobiles, and in using cell phones, mining, surveying and many other commercial uses.

Indeed, banks use the system to synchronize money transfers, "so space weather can affect all of us, right down to our wallet," said Anthea J. Coster, an atmospheric scientist at the Haystack Observatory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

[bananas]

1. The conference audio is here

The five mp3 links are hidden under the audio times (3:02, 3:20, etc).

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/s2831.htm

NOAA News Conference Audio (mp3)
April 4, 2007, Washington, D.C.
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, director, NOAA National Weather Service 3:02
Paul M. Kintner, Jr., Ph.D., professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University 3:20
Dale Gary, Ph.D., chair and professor, Physics Department, New Jersey Institute of Technology 4:31
Tony Mannucci, Ph.D., principal member of the Technical Staff and Supervisor, Ionospheric and Atmospheric Remote Sensing Group, NASA JPL 2:21
Patricia Doherty, co-director and senior research scientist, Boston College Institute for Scientific Research 5:29
Anthea Coster, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology Haystack Observatory 5:02

[PuraVidaDreamin]

2. The medical world uses GPS for Total Joint Replacement

during surgical procedures.

Stryker has quite a nifty little machine
called the Navigator that makes new joints
accurately placed to a pinpoint.

[ThomWV]

3. I've Been Using GPS Regularly Since It Began - Its Not Much Of A Problem

There have been periods of heavy solar activity in the last few years and it really doens't do much to disable the system. Certainly if it were used for instrument landings (its not used for that) it would matter but as it is the things continue to work with an increased radius of accuracy or short blockouts - but they really don't interfere much with navigation.