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Ammon News - Every 11 years, our sun becomes a chaotic sphere that shoots out huge bursts of energy towards Earth – a period known as the 'solar maximum'.

These energy bursts are responsible for the stunning Northern Light displays we've been treated to in recent months.

However, they can also disrupt internet and GPS satellites orbiting Earth - with blackouts for weeks.

Unfortunately, scientists have confirmed that solar maximum has officially arrived, and it could continue for the next 12 months.

So while opportunities to see the aurora will ramp up, so will the chance of a global internet blackout.

In a teleconference this, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Solar Cycle Prediction Panel confirmed that the sun has reached its solar maximum period, which could continue for the next year, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.

'During solar maximum, the number of sunspots, and therefore, the amount of solar activity, increases,' said Jamie Favors, director of NASA's space weather programme.

A 2021 study published by a University of California Irvine scientist found the internet could be crippled for weeks in the wake of a severe solar storm.

This is due to vulnerabilities in the world's massive network of submarine communications cables.

The electromagnetic fluctuations caused by intense solar storms cannot directly harm the fibre optic cables that make up the backbone of the internet.

However, they do have the potential to take out the signal boosters dotted along undersea cables that are necessary to maintain connections over large distances.

The study predicted the likelihood of solar storm capable of causing catastrophic disruption occurring in the next 10 years is between 1.6–12 per cent.

In 1859, a massive solar storm known as the Carrington event sent a powerful solar ejection toward Earth, disrupting communications on the ground.

If such an event were to happen in today's world, the effects would be catastrophic on our communications systems.

Lesser storms hit in 1921 and 1989 – the latter of which notably knocked out the power grid ran by Hydro-Québec, causing a nine-hour blackout in the northeast of Canada.

Scientists will not be able to determine the exact peak of this solar maximum period for many months because it’s only identifiable after they’ve tracked a consistent decline in solar activity after that peak.

However, scientists have identified that the last two years on the sun have been part of this active phase of the solar cycle, due to the consistently high number of sunspots during this period.

Scientists anticipate that the maximum phase will last another year or so before the sun enters the declining phase, which leads back to 'solar minimum' – at the start of the solar cycle when the sun has the fewest sunspots.