Northern Lights may be blamed for Satnav cockups and GPS devices
failures according to researchers from the University of Bath;
adding to the already long list of potential excuses which also
includes electric storms and dodgy onboard software. The natural
phenomenon, known as Aurora Borealis, apparently causes
Satellite Navigation systems go berserk due to the fact that
satellite signals, on which SatNav are reliant, are interrupted
when passing through the Northern lights thereby causing the
devices to display wrong readings. The results, which were
unveiled by scientists from the University of Bath, could have a
major impact in the way satnav devices are designed and could
prevent incidents where automated GPS navigation is critical.
Aurora Borealis is caused by particles that carry electric
charges of up to 10 million megawatts hitting the Earth's
atmosphere and causing the spectacular lights that have puzzled
so many for so long. "Anywhere that the aurora is visible, it
will cause disruption [to the GPS