WORST MAGNETIC STORM IN MODERN HISTORY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 71, 26 March 1940, Page 5

WORST MAGNETIC STORM IN MODERN HISTORY

BRITAIN AND US. AFFECTED DISTURBANCE UPSETS WORLD COMMUNICATIONS •By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) Received March 25, 9.30 p.m. LONDON, March 25. A magnetic storm affected many parts of Britain and a vast portion of North America. It put out of action the British telegraphic and telephonic services, impaired radio reception and upset the trans-Atlantic cable. Conditions returned to normal after considerable disruption. .\ Neu 5 crk message states that the worst magnetic storm in modern history, due to a sunspot, cut oil' United States communication with the rest of the world almost all day. It disrupted many domestic services, affected the land telegraph and telephone and undersea cables, and the wireless telephone to London. Paris and Koine. Shortwave relays anil even longwave radio was intermittent. The entire Atlantic seaboard was eut off from the Middle-We t.

SUNSPOTS AND AURORA ASSOCIATED WANGANUI OBSERVATIONS COMMENT BY OBSERVATORY DIRECTOR “The many sunspots evident yesterday. the tremendous amount of static noticed by radio listeners, and the Aurora Australis arc associated.” said Mr. W. Ward, honorary director of the Wanganui Observatory. “Short-wave stations make use of

Ihe Heavyside layer in the stratosphere, the wavelength being so adjusted that the message. so to speak, bounces off the layer back to earth and so on to its destination. On account of radioactive elements during such solar activity as took place yesterday, the height of the Heavyside layer alters, with the result that the height cannot be plumbed by the broadcasting station, and the effect is similar To that of a tennis ball bouncing against a loose net and failing to reach the spot intended by the player. “Normal conditions were so upset yesterday that New Zealand listeners failed to pick up overseas short-wave broadcasts, the result being altogether unsatisfactory to listeners, though rather intriguing to the student of conditions.’’