Geomagnetic Storm Slams Earth

One of the people in our group pointed this out to me, so I figured I'd info-dump this here for everyone else. Yesterday we had a Coronal Mass Ejection that would be the perfect excuse as to why all out pretty little satellites are failing sooner rather then later. It would also mean radios and other wireless communication devices might have more problems then usual.

I just looked it up on Wikipedia... so basically giant, natural, radiation-induced EMP??? Also, one that can cause a strong Aurora Borealis?

Also I just looked at the internet news AKA ctvnews.ca and check this out: http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/aurora-borealis-lights-up-skies-across-southern-canada-1.2435664

4491305 It's quite possible this really wouldn't be a major issue normally, but without the staff trained to make the little corrections to the network, it would give time based degradation and lovely boost. Would they actually fall though, or would they just shift out of their pre-established orbital paths?

4491351 My town hates me. Every time something fun happens in the sky, it's overcast. Had thunderstorms last night.

4491351
Oh, I'm doubly glad I brought this up then. Some of our Canadian characters would probably notice this!

4491370
Depends. The fun part is its over the North American continent, so it'll only slam anything over us. But basically it would probably help further accelerate any shifts from their normal orbits, as any ground sites remaining to provide automated course would have issues communicating. Any systems that help them automate their own positions might not be able to see as well.

Ultimately, though, I just posted this here for people who may want to use this as a tool. At the very least, it would interrupt radio communications for a while.

4491399 Wireless would be affected to some degree, radio wave interruptions and such. But with service providers already unstaffed, no one might notice since the networks might be down. I suppose if we manage to head to one of the headquarters we might be able to keep something running communications wise. [Mainly in Canada though. I don't think the US has the kind of puzzle piece usage restricted nested grid with numerous renewable plants tied into it like we do] GPS would take a major hit though. Hmm... HPI does seem to have some satellite linkage, so there's that....

Ah! There's that Canadian Super Camera on the space station! Granted, that would be up to a vancouver survivor...

4491305
Sweet timing :)

Spaceweather.com reports there was a “moderately strong blackout of shortwave and low-frequency radio signals over North America

The HPI's number broadcast should be out then.
CMEs can also hinder satellite communications by emitting 10cm radio bursts; this one did. Day said Sky should call if something happened... might not be able to do so. And HPI's eye in the sky might also be offline for a 2-3 days as well during such an event.
The satellites' orbital decay rate won't be affected though, even if they got completely knocked out. Just communications.

Have a video of the event by the nasa solar observatory. The sheer size of those CMEs never fails to impress.
And the actual reports are here.

Including bright auroras and disrupted comm signals caused by a CME in the stories would be cool really. The characters wouldn't be able to know the CME and the Event are totally unrelated after all. Also: strong aurora and no light pollution. Should be quite a sight.

4492703
Thank you, Celefin.

Ultimately, my field of expertise and breadth of knowledge isn't in how these satellites function, but how to use their data. Anything that others can provide that can better refine any provided information is always helpful.

We'll be trying to keep an eye out for interesting bits of information like this for everyone else, such as the severe storms in Boston yesterday that caused some minor damage and downed trees. When we see things like these, we will likely post them up here.