The occurrence of solar flares and solar storms are what scientists call a solar maximum. The last huge and noticeable solar maximum occurred in 1958 but at that time, the occurrence of a solar maximum was not a threat as such to earth because technology affected by the sun’s magnetic field was yet to exist.

However, in this day and age of wireless technology such as cell phones and GPS, a solar maximum threatens to bring businesses and many people’s lives to a standstill.

Unfortunately, a solar storm quite unseen before, is being predicted by scientists. This had been predicted on March 2006 when there was a solar minimum since that is normally the quiet that precedes a solar maximum.

A phenomenon that scientists are calling the Sun’s conveyor belt is being studied. The belt conveys a scenario where it carries electrically-conducting gases and flows in a loop from the equator out to the poles and back again. This conveyor controls the sunspot cycle.

Sunspots are furled masses of magnetism which are made by the sun’s inner dynamics. One can last for a number of weeks, after which they rot and leave in their wake, weak carcasses of magnetic fields. The belt then carries these magnetic carcasses into the poles where they are taken deep into the sun. There, recycling occurs making them more buoyant and able to be returned to the surface as sunspots. This cycle takes about 40 years.

The basis of the predictions of a solar storm is that the sun’s conveyor belt went into a fast cycle from 1986 to 1996 and thus there will likely be new and more buoyant sunspots in 2010/2011.

Although differing on time, two scientists, Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and David Hathaway of the National Space Science & Technology Center (NSSTC) concur that the occurrence of a solar maximum is a certainty.

It remains to be seen how such an occurrence would affect law enforcement which depends on GPS, as well as businesses and personal lives which are so dependent on cell phone technology. The scientific community still differs in opinion as with the Y2K furor which proved to be a false alarm.

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