On November 11, 2025, the Sun unleashed a series of solar flares that struck Earth, triggering a severe geomagnetic storm that peaked for around six hours. The event triggered beautiful auroras across the skies, but it also wreaked havoc on crucial technology we rely on for our daily lives.
In a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, a team of scientists measured the disruption to global navigation systems caused by the geomagnetic storm. The results revealed significant positioning errors, large enough to mess with precision agriculture and autonomous vehicles across the U.S.
A storm is coming
During a solar storm, the Sun blasts Earth with bursts of radiation and charged particles that overload and distort the planet’s upper atmosphere, called the ionosphere. This slows and bends GPS radio signals passing through this layer.
The effect is usually stronger near the equator and the polar regions, but it can extend into the mid-latitudes during intense geomagnetic storms. To observe the effects of the November 2025 solar storm, the scientists behind the new study combined aurora-camera observations with ground-based GPS receiver networks across the U.S. and Canada.
They mapped the density of high-energy electrons in the ionosphere, as well as signal fluctuations and positioning errors that took place during the storm. As the storm intensified, the scientists observed electrons traveling down Earth’s magnetic field and colliding with gases in the upper atmosphere across a wide range of latitudes.
Strong signal fluctuations appeared across the U.S., and the disturbances extended almost entirely from the West Coast to the East Coast and as far south as Florida, according to the study. The irregularities caused satellite signals to fluctuate for hours and threw off GPS positioning by more than 30 feet (10 meters).
Space weather vs. Earth
Positioning errors at this level can affect farming equipment like GPS-equipped tractors. In May 2024, a more severe geomagnetic storm struck Earth during farming season and cost farmers in the U.S. Midwest more than $500 million in damages, according to Space.com.
“Had the November superstorm occurred during the farming season in the American sector, it could have caused significant economic losses for the American farming industry,” the authors wrote in the paper.
The GPS disruption was also strong enough to veer off self-driving cars, the researchers noted.
Solar storms are hard to predict. Depending on where the Sun is during its 11-year cycle, our star experiences periods of high or low solar activity. While scientists can predict the possibility of an eruption during solar maximum, the exact moment of the event and its magnitude are difficult to forecast.
Scientists are actively working on new tools to help them predict solar storms faster and more accurately. Until then, the Sun’s chaotic outbursts continue to pose a threat to Earth’s technologies.
“The results underscore the importance of accurate understanding of various space weather phenomena to enhance our predictive capabilities through coordinated observations and physics-based modeling and ultimately reducing disruptions to [radio frequency] applications during space weather events,” the researchers wrote.
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