Cosmic storms in the next 11-year solar cycle will be up to 50 percent stronger than the last one, thus more disruptive to power grids on the earth and orbiting satellites, scientists said Monday.

The sun is in a relatively quiet period now. The next cycle could start late this year or as late as 2008.

Scientists, who use a new computer model that takes into account previous solar cycle data, said the upcoming solar cycle will be between 30 percent to 50 percent stronger.

An active solar cycle, which occurs about every 11 years, involves increased solar storms that occur in the company of increased number of sunspots. Solar storms can eject billions of tons of plasma and charged particles into space.

Such a period suggests "more communications disruptions, more satellite failures, possible disruptions of electrical grids and blackouts, more dangerous conditions for astronauts," Richard Behnke, of the National Science Foundation, told a telephone news briefing.

The peak of the last cycle was in 2001. The strongest solar cycle in recent memory occurred in the late 1950s.

Scientists are unable to give accurate predictions of how intense or when a solar storm will occur.

Source: Xinhua