Posted on 02/20/2011 3:24:50 PM PST by BenLurkin
The sun is waking up from a long quiet spell. Last week it sent out the strongest flare for four years – and scientists are warning that earth should prepare for an intense electromagnetic storm that, in the worst case, could be a “global Katrina” costing the world economy $2,000bn.
Senior officials responsible for policy on solar storms – also known as space weather – in the US, UK and Sweden urged more preparedness at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.
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“Predict and prepare should be the watchwords,” agreed Jane Lubchenco, head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “So much more of our technology is vulnerable than it was 10 years ago.”
A solar storm starts with an eruption of super-hot gas travelling out from the sun at speeds of up to 5m miles an hour. Electrically charged particles hit earth’s atmosphere 20 to 30 hours later, causing electromagnetic havoc.
Last week’s solar storm may have been the biggest since 2007, but it was relatively small in historical terms.
It caused some radio communications problems and minor disruption of civil aviation as airlines routed flights away from the polar regions, said Dr Lubchenco.
A more extreme storm can shut down communications satellites for many hours – or even cause permanent damage to their components. On the ground, the intense magnetic fluctuations can induce surges in power lines, leading to grid failures such as the one that blacked out the whole of Quebec in 1989.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Overcast in So. NE ...supposed to be stormy for a few days. DARN! We’re on the very edge!
Just pass a huge tax on sunscreen, that’ll fix everything.
I live in Alaska and I haven’t seen much change.
Still waiting
It does not matter if the device is “plugged in” to the grid or not. If it has conductive components, like wires, it can be fried. EMP is fairly poorly understand by most people, just like other forms of radiation.
We’re not talking about a full-blown EMP attack, we’re talking about a solar flare. Electrical surge is the primary threat, to my understanding.
This will be latched onto by the junk science (global warming, et al) crowd, but it does present a real danger to a technological society, especially if unprepared for such an event. Being fully prepared is not so difficult, once one understands the real dangers and how to defend against or circumvent them.
If the effects of this severe solar flare that are being contemplated in the article were to approximate a full scale military EMP attack, I’d understand the comments about Faraday cages and unplugged electronics frying. I’m under the impression that they won’t, though. Satellites in orbit would be much more exposed. The two trillion dollar solar “Katrina” referenced in particular the electrical grid, with the primary danger being power surge. That’s why I replied as I did, and it still strikes me as being a logical and relatively easily implemented approach.
8 billion with no food is a problem that solves itself.
no doubt that would make sense but there would be damage to multiple systems all over the world....
Just saying that there would be a huge financial impact...
It is about the huge step-up/step-down transformers. We have about 2,000 in USA. One in Quebec was taken out by a weak flare in 1989 - all of Quebec in blackout. A flare (CME) the size of 1921, which was ten times larger than 1989, would fry all 2,000 as would the ten times larger than that CME in 1859. Here’s the thing, it takes about 3 years to replace a single one of these huge transformers. That means most of the USA would be without electricity for years. Mr. Graham, Chairperson of the EMP Commission report to Congress believes that 250,000,000 (80%)of the US population would die from starvation, disease, exposure and murder within 6 months after the loss of these transformers, be it via and EMP, CME or cyber attack.
Read “How Long Can You Tread Water” by Tom S.
These huge flares happen frequently, but the sun is a sphere and only rarely is the Earth in the line of fire. Our luck could run out any time.
Thanks!
Yes I was reading about that!
We are cooked electronically if that should happen...
Back to the Pioneer Days!
:)
I was wondering about that. There used to be a lot of posts on FreeRepublic about the solar minimum causing climate change.
Then as soon as we get a flare, the left is celebrating the possible return of global warming, but also Katrina-like destruction.
How to serve man.
I’m thinking a lot of marinatin’ first.
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