The May 1967 great storm and radio disruption event: Extreme space weather and extraordinary responses

Abstract

Although listed as one of the most significant events of the last 80 years, the space weather storm of late May 1967 has been of mostly fading academic interest. The storm made its initial mark with a colossal solar radio burst causing radio interference at frequencies between 0.01 and 9.0 GHz and near‐simultaneous disruptions of dayside radio communication by intense fluxes of ionizing solar X‐rays. Aspects of military control and communication were immediately challenged. Within hours a solar energetic particle event disrupted high‐frequency communication in the polar cap. Subsequently, record‐setting geomagnetic and ionospheric storms compounded the disruptions. We explain how the May 1967 storm was nearly one with ultimate societal impact, were it not for the nascent efforts of the United States Air Force in expanding its terrestrial weather monitoring‐analysis‐warning‐prediction efforts into the realm of space weather forecasting. An important and long‐lasting outcome of this storm was more formal Department of Defense‐support for current‐day space weather forecasting. This story develops during the rapid rise of solar cycle 20 and the intense Cold War in the latter half of the twentieth century. We detail the events of late May 1967 in the intersecting categories of solar‐terrestrial interactions and the political‐military backdrop of the Cold War. This was one of the “Great Storms” of the twentieth century, despite the apparent lack of large geomagnetically induced currents. Radio disruptions like those discussed here warrant the attention of today's radio‐reliant, cellular‐phone and satellite‐navigation enabled world.

Historical space weather monitoring of prolonged aurora activities in Japan and in China

“…Knipp et al . [] discussed a great storm from solar cycle 20 that occurred in the early rising phase of solar cycle 20. That storm had multiple coronal mass ejections, at least two of which combined to create the great storm with the peak Dst index of −387 nT.…”

Space Weather: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

“…British radars were temporarily blinded (with the blinding initially attributed to enemy jamming) by the large solar radio burst in February 1942 (Hewish 2002). The large solar event of May 1967, including the radio burst content (Castelli et al 1968) that interfered with radar was recently re-visited by Knipp et al (2016), who discussed the cold war implications. Solar radio noise and bursts continues to be of design and operational concern for the potential of interference with radar and navigation (GPS) technologies (e.g., Cerruti et al 2006Cerruti et al , 2008.…”

The Economic Impact of Space Weather: Where Do We Stand?

“…This caused a particularly significant disruption to communications, specifically to the military, and marked the start of a significant U.S. investment in space weather monitoring that continues to this day. (40) March 1989 The largest geomagnetic storm of the space age (41) causing well-known failure of the Quebec power grid (42) and damaging two transformers in the United Kingdom. (43) October-November 2003…”