According to current predictions, the sun is expected to reach its solar maximum in 2025, increasing the likelihood of powerful solar storms and flares impacting Earth. Initially predicted to be weak, the current solar cycle, Solar Cycle 25, has proven to be of much greater magnitude.
Although the peak of Solar Cycle 25 is forecast to occur in July 2025, the exact timing of the peak is still uncertain. As a result, WAAS, EGNOS, and GLIDE users are especially at risk of experiencing issues due to these storms including positioning problems and poor pass-to-pass accuracy.
To ensure Ag Leader customers are prepared for potential satellite disruptions that could hit during peak field activities, below are Frequently Asked Questions about Solar Cycle 25.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Solar Cycle 25?
Solar Cycle 25 is the current solar cycle, which began in December 2019. It is expected to last until about 2030. During this cycle, the sun’s activity has been increasing and is expected to peak in 2025.
What is the expected impact from Solar Cycle 25?
According to NASA, impacts will vary from one region to another, depending on the Earth’s rotation, tilt, and general proximity to the Sun, on a given day or time. A solar flare incident can last from minutes to several hours, and its duration depends on the intensity of the flare. Occasionally, the same active region on the Sun can cause a string of flares, erupting over days and weeks.
How could this impact agriculture?
Due to increased solar activity, agriculture could be significantly impacted by Solar Cycle 25. Solar storms can disrupt GPS signals causing temporary delays in field work as well as inaccurate application of inputs, potentially impacting yield.
What should I expect to see during an impact?
During high solar activity, ionospheric scintillation can occur. The ionosphere is a layer of atmosphere that holds electrically charged particles called ions. An ionospheric scintillation is the alteration of radio waves by ions that cause rapid change in GPS signal strength and phase.
GPS users can expect to see the following during a scintillation event.
- You will have difficulty achieving and maintaining a fixed or converged position (Green Satellite).
- You can expect position shifts. For example, the guidance line will shift for an extended period.
- Position jumps can occur. For instance, the guidance line may jump over and then back in short periods of time.
Is there any way to mitigate the impact on my farm?
One way to mitigate the impact is to utilize newer GNSS receivers like Ag Leader’s GPS 7500 and GPS 7000 paired with TerraStar-C Pro. . . the most resilient solution against extreme solar activity.
When using TerraStar-C Pro, GPS 7500 and GPS 7000 receivers are compatible with a greater number of satellite signals, allowing the system to better withstand interruption during extreme solar activity, giving the end user a superior experience with less downtime.
Learn more about TerraStar-C Pro here.
Is there any data to demonstrate how much downtime is mitigated with TerraStar-C Pro versus WAAS or TerraStar-L?
The latest TerraStar-C Pro firmware enhances mitigation of ionospheric scintillation, improving accuracy by 60% during scintillation events compared to previous versions. This advancement increases operational uptime in regions affected by scintillation.
Ionospheric scintillation happens when disturbances in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, often caused by solar activity, make satellite signals flicker or weaken. These disturbances can interfere with GPS and GNSS signals, leading to positioning errors or even signal loss.
TerraStar-C Pro is better than TerraStar-L and WAAS because it uses Multi-Frequency, Multi-Constellation Tracking (MCMF) to track signals more reliably and keep accurate positioning. By accessing more signals from different satellite systems, it performs well even in challenging conditions like ionospheric scintillation.
The latest firmware improves the integrity checks in TerraStar-C Pro, making its position more reliable compared to SBAS.
Compared to TerraStar-L, TerraStar-C Pro can better estimate ionospheric errors using dual frequencies, which is especially useful during scintillation. For example, if L2 is unavailable, a TerraStar-C Pro receiver can still maintain its position by using L5 along with L1.
L1-only users (like the GPS 7000 Ag Leader base model) are at higher risk during ionospheric scintillation because they don’t have backup signals for tracking. They also have lower accuracy compared to L1/L2 GLIDE with WAAS or TerraStar-L users.