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Fiona Chow

Lo Hoi-ying

Cathay Pacific Airways confirmed a flight from New York to Hong Kong was diverted on Wednesday due to a geomagnetic storm, a space weather event meteorology and IT experts said was capable of disrupting GPS navigation and signals.
But the meteorologist played down concerns about the geomagnetic storm’s impact over Hong Kong, saying the city was in a low latitude region and unlikely to be affected.
Cathay Pacific confirmed on Friday that flight CX831 from New York on Wednesday was diverted and made a “technical stop” at Osaka en route to Hong Kong.
“The captain of the flight made the decision so as to ensure flight safety due to the impact of the geomagnetic storm,” the airline said.
It added that another crew was sent to Osaka to operate the flight as a result of the re-routing.
Flight CX831 landed in Osaka at 6.25pm and the same aircraft departed an hour and 20 minutes later. It arrived in Hong Kong at 10.27pm on Thursday, taking 17 hours and 17 minutes for the journey from New York, which was one hour and 42 minutes longer than expected.
According to data from the flight-tracking website flightradar24.com, the aircraft flew westwards on Wednesday across Canada towards the Pacific Ocean to reach Japan. This was a different from the flight’s usual eastward path which passes through Greenland, Russia and mainland China.
“Safety of our customers and crew members guides every decision we make. We sincerely apologise to affected customers for the inconvenience and appreciate their understanding,” the airline said.
The storm, a disturbance of the Earth’s magnetic field, is triggered by solar activity from the sun. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center has warned the public since Wednesday, saying the severe condition of the geomagnetic storm was to be observed.
The China Meteorological Administration forecast the geomagnetic storm would take place on Thursday and last for three days until October 12, according to Chinese media reports.
Hong Kong Observatory said on Friday it had no observations and forecasts of space weather so far.
George Liu Zhi-zhao, professor of Polytechnic University’s Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, said Hong Kong would be largely safe from a geomagnetic storm.
“Hong Kong is unlikely to be affected by a geomagnetic storm ... the city is located in a region of low latitude where its ionosphere is already quite active on regular days,” Liu said.
Ionosphere is the part of the Earth’s upper atmosphere where extreme ultraviolet and X-ray solar radiation ionised atoms and molecules, creating a layer of electrons.
When severe solar activity is triggered by energetic particles reacting with ions in the atmosphere, disturbances occur and result in refracted or scattered radio waves, also known as scintillations.

Liu, also a member of the Hong Kong Meteorological Society, explained that regions near the North or South Pole might be more exposed to significant disturbance, though any location on Earth could be affected to some extent.
The professor said aircraft relied on the global navigation satellite system and the technology’s precision as well as reliability could be affected by the scintillations.
These scintillations generally occurred during the initial, main and recovery phases of the storm.
The US weather forecaster said on Wednesday that the storm could reach severe or extreme levels.
Liu said the geomagnetic storm was not a “continuous” event but instead only disrupted signals between 8pm and midnight, a pattern related to solar activity and particle movement.
“Flights should be delayed to wait for the space weather to pass in a period of a few hours, then it should be safe to take off again after that is gone,” he said.
Francis Fong Po-kiu, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said the GPS systems in automobiles and ships might also be affected under a geomagnetic storm.
He explained GPS received signals emitted from more than three satellites. If the satellites failed to transmit the signals to the ground on Earth, that might affect maps and location services on users’ mobile phones.
Two drone shows planned for September 30 and October 1 in Hong Kong to celebrate National Day were cancelled because GPS signals were disrupted by ionospheric scintillation.
Meanwhile, displays on October 1 and 2 in the neighbouring technology hub of Shenzhen were delayed or reduced in size for the same reason.


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But a meteorological expert plays down concerns about the weather event’s impact over Hong Kong, citing the city’s low latitude


But a meteorological expert plays down concerns about the weather event’s impact over Hong Kong, citing the city’s low latitude.


Cathay Pacific

Hong Kong aviation

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Travel Safety