1967 Solar Storm Nearly Took U.S. to Brink of War
Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2016 2:23 pm
1967 Solar Storm Nearly Took U.S. to Brink of War
University of Colorado | American Geophysical Union | 2016 Aug 09
The May 1967 Great Storm and Radio Disruption Event:
Extreme Space Weather and Extraordinary Responses - Delores. J. Knipp et al
University of Colorado | American Geophysical Union | 2016 Aug 09
A solar storm that jammed radar and radio communications at the height of the Cold War could have led to a disastrous military conflict if not for the U.S. Air Force’s budding efforts to monitor the sun’s activity ...
On May 23, 1967, the Air Force prepared aircraft for war, thinking the nation’s surveillance radars in polar regions were being jammed by the Soviet Union. Just in time, military space weather forecasters conveyed information about the solar storm’s potential to disrupt radar and radio communications. The planes remained on the ground and the U.S. avoided a potential nuclear weapon exchange with the Soviet Union ...
The storm is a classic example of how geoscience and space research are essential to U.S. national security ...
The May 1967 Great Storm and Radio Disruption Event:
Extreme Space Weather and Extraordinary Responses - Delores. J. Knipp et al
- Space Weather (online 09 Aug 2016) DOI: 10.1002/2016SW001423 (pdf)