Air miles may come at a higher cost than most frequent fliers realise, a new study has revealed. There are new concerns over the effects of solar flares on human health.
Because of increased solar activity expected over the next two years, air travellers as well as astronauts run risks from damaging solar radiation. The sun’s 11-year cycle of stormy and calm times reaches a peak sometime in May, 2013.
Although most radiation levels affecting air passengers are within “acceptable” limits (less than an average chest x-ray), the intensity of the rays increases sharply in flights over the poles, such as long haul flights from Britain to parts of the US
According to NASA scientists, the sun has been in a period called a “grand solar maximum”, which has lasted longer than any other in the past 9,300 years. And the report says that the “damaging space weather” is likely to get worse.
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