China's National Center for Space Weather Monitoring and Warning forecast on Friday that another powerful magnetic storm may occur on Saturday, affecting the normal operation of the world's man-made satellites and telecommunication systems.

 

A magnetic storm on a huge scale that was caused by a sunspot arrived on earth on Friday, said Le Guiming, a Chinese researcher on space weather.

 

Powerful solar storms can disrupt shortwave communication and global positioning systems (GPS), but usually will not affect the usage of mobile phones, said Le.

 

Pigeons may not be able to find way their home as magnetic storms change the direction of magnetic force lines, Le said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2006)