article_snippet.sent: Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can damage satellites and have an enormous financial cost.
article_snippet.sent: Very large flares can even create currents within electricity grids and knock out energy supplies.
article_snippet.sent: The result of this motion is that the bands create turbulent regions of activity on the surface, causing solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
article_snippet.sent: CMEs are the huge waves of material that are seen in images of The sun, and CMEs can pose a threat to satellites in Earth orbit.
article_snippet.sent: Solar flares are flashes of energy on the surface of the sun, which are sometimes associated with CMEs - although their connection is not well understood.
article_snippet.sent: A solar flare occurs when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released.
article_snippet.sent: Radiation is emitted across virtually the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves at the long wavelength end, through optical emission to X-rays and gamma rays at the short wavelength end.
article_snippet.sent: The amount of energy released is the equivalent of millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time .
article_snippet.sent: A flare occurs when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released - mostly in the active regions around sunspots.
article_snippet.sent: The surges of magnetic fuel from The sun's interior catastrophically destabilise the corona, The sun's outermost atmosphere.
article_snippet.sent: the corona are the driving force behind the most destructive solar storms. '
article_snippet.sent: These surges or "whomps" as we have dubbed the corona, are responsible for over 95 per cent of the large flares and CMEs - the ones that are really devastating,' Dr McIntosh said.