Additional flight delays and magnetospheric–ionospheric disturbances during solar storms
Abstract Although the sun is really far away from us, some solar activities could still influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems on Earth. Those time-varying conditions in space caused by the sun are also called solar storm or space weather. It...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2023-02-01
|
| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30424-2 |
| _version_ | 1827984422728630272 |
|---|---|
| author | Y. Wang X. H. Xu F. S. Wei X. S. Feng M. H. Bo H. W. Tang D. S. Wang L. Bian B. Y. Wang W. Y. Zhang Y. S. Huang Z. Li J. P. Guo P. B. Zuo C. W. Jiang X. J. Xu Z. L. Zhou P. Zou |
| author_facet | Y. Wang X. H. Xu F. S. Wei X. S. Feng M. H. Bo H. W. Tang D. S. Wang L. Bian B. Y. Wang W. Y. Zhang Y. S. Huang Z. Li J. P. Guo P. B. Zuo C. W. Jiang X. J. Xu Z. L. Zhou P. Zou |
| author_sort | Y. Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Although the sun is really far away from us, some solar activities could still influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems on Earth. Those time-varying conditions in space caused by the sun are also called solar storm or space weather. It is known that aviation activities can be affected during solar storms, but the exact effects of space weather on aviation are still unclear. Especially how the flight delays, the top topic concerned by most people, will be affected by space weather has never been thoroughly researched. By analyzing huge amount of flight data (~ 4 × 106 records), for the first time, we quantitatively investigate the flight delays during space weather events. It is found that compared to the quiet periods, the average arrival delay time and 30-min delay rate during space weather events are significantly increased by 81.34% and 21.45% respectively. The evident negative correlation between the yearly flight regularity rate and the yearly mean total sunspot number during 22 years also confirms such correlation. Further studies show that the flight delay time and delay rate will monotonically increase with the geomagnetic field fluctuations and ionospheric disturbances. These results indicate that the interferences in communication and navigation during space weather events may be the most probable reason accounting for the increased flight delays. The above analyses expand the traditional field of space weather research and could also provide us with brand new views for improving the flight delay predications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T22:59:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d290394cdf6544c18cbde3475d3db984 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T22:59:57Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-d290394cdf6544c18cbde3475d3db9842023-03-22T11:03:17ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-02-011311810.1038/s41598-023-30424-2Additional flight delays and magnetospheric–ionospheric disturbances during solar stormsY. Wang0X. H. Xu1F. S. Wei2X. S. Feng3M. H. Bo4H. W. Tang5D. S. Wang6L. Bian7B. Y. Wang8W. Y. Zhang9Y. S. HuangZ. Li10J. P. Guo11P. B. Zuo12C. W. Jiang13X. J. Xu14Z. L. Zhou15P. Zou16Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Numerical Prediction for Space Storm, Institute of Space Science and Applied Technology, Harbin Institute of TechnologyShenzhen Key Laboratory of Numerical Prediction for Space Storm, Institute of Space Science and Applied Technology, Harbin Institute of TechnologyShenzhen Key Laboratory of Numerical Prediction for Space Storm, Institute of Space Science and Applied Technology, Harbin Institute of TechnologyShenzhen Key Laboratory of Numerical Prediction for Space Storm, Institute of Space Science and Applied Technology, Harbin Institute of TechnologyTravelsky Mobile Technology LimitedTravelsky Mobile Technology LimitedTravelsky Mobile Technology LimitedTravelsky Mobile Technology LimitedShenzhen Key Laboratory of Numerical Prediction for Space Storm, Institute of Space Science and Applied Technology, Harbin Institute of TechnologyShenzhen Key Laboratory of Numerical Prediction for Space Storm, Institute of Space Science and Applied Technology, Harbin Institute of TechnologyNanjing University of Information Science and TechnologyInstitute for Frontiers in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Beijing Normal UniversityShenzhen Key Laboratory of Numerical Prediction for Space Storm, Institute of Space Science and Applied Technology, Harbin Institute of TechnologyShenzhen Key Laboratory of Numerical Prediction for Space Storm, Institute of Space Science and Applied Technology, Harbin Institute of TechnologyState Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and TechnologyState Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and TechnologyShenzhen Key Laboratory of Numerical Prediction for Space Storm, Institute of Space Science and Applied Technology, Harbin Institute of TechnologyAbstract Although the sun is really far away from us, some solar activities could still influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems on Earth. Those time-varying conditions in space caused by the sun are also called solar storm or space weather. It is known that aviation activities can be affected during solar storms, but the exact effects of space weather on aviation are still unclear. Especially how the flight delays, the top topic concerned by most people, will be affected by space weather has never been thoroughly researched. By analyzing huge amount of flight data (~ 4 × 106 records), for the first time, we quantitatively investigate the flight delays during space weather events. It is found that compared to the quiet periods, the average arrival delay time and 30-min delay rate during space weather events are significantly increased by 81.34% and 21.45% respectively. The evident negative correlation between the yearly flight regularity rate and the yearly mean total sunspot number during 22 years also confirms such correlation. Further studies show that the flight delay time and delay rate will monotonically increase with the geomagnetic field fluctuations and ionospheric disturbances. These results indicate that the interferences in communication and navigation during space weather events may be the most probable reason accounting for the increased flight delays. The above analyses expand the traditional field of space weather research and could also provide us with brand new views for improving the flight delay predications.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30424-2 |
| spellingShingle | Y. Wang X. H. Xu F. S. Wei X. S. Feng M. H. Bo H. W. Tang D. S. Wang L. Bian B. Y. Wang W. Y. Zhang Y. S. Huang Z. Li J. P. Guo P. B. Zuo C. W. Jiang X. J. Xu Z. L. Zhou P. Zou Additional flight delays and magnetospheric–ionospheric disturbances during solar storms Scientific Reports |
| title | Additional flight delays and magnetospheric–ionospheric disturbances during solar storms |
| title_full | Additional flight delays and magnetospheric–ionospheric disturbances during solar storms |
| title_fullStr | Additional flight delays and magnetospheric–ionospheric disturbances during solar storms |
| title_full_unstemmed | Additional flight delays and magnetospheric–ionospheric disturbances during solar storms |
| title_short | Additional flight delays and magnetospheric–ionospheric disturbances during solar storms |
| title_sort | additional flight delays and magnetospheric ionospheric disturbances during solar storms |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30424-2 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ywang additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT xhxu additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT fswei additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT xsfeng additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT mhbo additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT hwtang additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT dswang additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT lbian additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT bywang additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT wyzhang additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT yshuang additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT zli additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT jpguo additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT pbzuo additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT cwjiang additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT xjxu additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT zlzhou additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms AT pzou additionalflightdelaysandmagnetosphericionosphericdisturbancesduringsolarstorms |