Total eclipse of the Internet: traffic impacts in Iceland, Spain, and Portugal

Summary

On August 12, a total solar eclipse crossed the North Atlantic and Europe, passing directly over Iceland, northern Spain, and Portugal. Cloudflare Radar analyzed HTTP request volumes in five-minute intervals across affected countries, comparing the data against a baseline derived from the previous three Wednesdays. Traffic reductions aligned closely with peak solar obscuration, with totality regions recording drops between 15% and 30% and specific areas shifting by up to -46.7%. Once the sun reappeared, request volumes rebounded to normal levels within minutes as users resumed device activity. The observed traffic declines were driven by aggregate human behavior rather than network failures.

Takeaways

1. 1

   Internet traffic decreases mirrored peak solar obscuration, with regions in totality experiencing traffic drops between 15% and 30%.

2. 2

   Traffic baselines were calculated using slot-by-slot median HTTP request volumes from the prior three Wednesdays to prevent single-week anomalies from skewing results.

3. 3

   Solar obscuration was calculated at five-minute intervals using the geometric overlap of two circles based on the apparent positions and angular sizes of the sun and moon.