Wireless Telegraphy and Magnetic Storms

A recent theory of auroras and magnetic storms attributes these phenomena to the action of a flash of ultraviolet light from the sun. The flash causes an unusual ionization in the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. Therefore, it is only daylight wireless circuits which are, or may be, disturbed at the commencement of the magnetic storm, the night circuits remaining normal until dawn when they may be disturbed; the disturbance in the daytime circuits may persist after night-fall. This very simple theory is found to be borne out in a detailed discussion of the data of the short-wave (15 to 40 meters) circuits of the United States Navy during the magnetic storms of May 28, July 7, October 18, and October 24, 1928.