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Report: Powerful Solar Storm Could Shut Down U.S. for Months
Fox News ^ | January 08, 2009 | Robert Roy Britt

Posted on 01/08/2009 4:57:24 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

A new study from the National Academy of Sciences outlines grim possibilities on Earth for a worst-case scenario solar storm.

Damage to power grids and other communications systems could be catastrophic, the scientists conclude, with effects leading to a potential loss of governmental control of the situation.

The prediction is based in part on major solar storm in 1859 caused telegraph wires to short out in the United States and Europe, igniting widespread fires.

It was perhaps the worst in the past 200 years, according to the new study, and with the advent of modern power grids and satellites, much more is at risk.

"A contemporary repetition of the [1859] event would cause significantly more extensive (and possibly catastrophic) social and economic disruptions," the researchers conclude.

When the sun is in the active phase of its 11-year cycle, it can unleash powerful magnetic storms that disable satellites, threaten astronaut safety, and even disrupt communication systems on Earth.

The worst storms can knock out power grids by inducing currents that melt transformers.

Modern power grids are so interconnected that a big space storm — the type expected to occur about once a century — could cause a cascade of failures that would sweep across the United States, cutting power to 130 million people or more in this country alone, the new report concludes.

Such widespread power outages, though expected to be a rare possibility, would affect other vital systems.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: catastrophism; economy; obama; solarflares
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Maybe this was what Joe Biden was talking about.
1 posted on 01/08/2009 4:57:25 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This is series.


2 posted on 01/08/2009 4:59:14 PM PST by FlyingEagle
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

ping


3 posted on 01/08/2009 4:59:17 PM PST by unkus
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Bush’s fault!


4 posted on 01/08/2009 5:00:02 PM PST by LongTimeMILurker
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

More liberal scare-science targeted at the mentally handicapped liberal voters....another GW-style scam in the brewing??

What’s next you mindless libs? Attack of the KILLER TOMATOES??


5 posted on 01/08/2009 5:00:33 PM PST by EagleUSA
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Lions, tigers and bears, oh my!


6 posted on 01/08/2009 5:01:25 PM PST by FMBass ("Now that I'm sober I watch a lot of news"- Garofalo from Coulter's "Treason")
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To: FlyingEagle
And hugh.


7 posted on 01/08/2009 5:01:57 PM PST by Viking2002 (Let's be proactive and start the impeachment NOW.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Naw....Plugs Biden was talking about a MANUFACTURED crisis, the one that Rham Emmanuel says is an opportunity they can’t let slip by. Just like the DUmbasses who said that if 9-11 had happened on BJ Clinton’s watch it would have been a legacy enhancer.


8 posted on 01/08/2009 5:02:20 PM PST by RasterMaster (DUmocrats - the party of slavery, sedition, subversion, socialism & surrender)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Keep those old tube-radio sets in good condition. ;)

/johnny

9 posted on 01/08/2009 5:02:55 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (God Bless us all, each, and every one.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Any word on exactly how we can get the sun to wake up and take notice? At the rate it's going, it will likely sleep for decades.

Ever wonder why the ice ages are much longer during the glaciation period, about 100,000 years on average, than the period of Interglacial, about like the 12,000 years of the current Holocene Interglacial? And how does that work, unless the sun goes quiet for a 100,000 years or so.

Do people even know the Earth is in the Holocene Interglacial period and the only sure thing is there will be another ice age, not when will there be another ice age?

10 posted on 01/08/2009 5:03:07 PM PST by Tarpon (America's first principles, freedom, liberty, market economy and self-reliance will never fail.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The smart grid will be invulnerable!


11 posted on 01/08/2009 5:03:08 PM PST by Pearls Before Swine (Is /sarc really necessary?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If this is world wide, then even our enemies will have problems. Well, I guess the cannibals in some of the far away rain forests will still have some clout. :-)


12 posted on 01/08/2009 5:03:26 PM PST by Evil Slayer (Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war)
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To: LongTimeMILurker

I am sure 0bama can fix this.


13 posted on 01/08/2009 5:05:32 PM PST by Lokibob (When handed lemons...Refuse to sign for them. Life's lemons can't be delivered without a signature.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Don’t worry, the Yellowstone volcano will kill us all first.


14 posted on 01/08/2009 5:05:52 PM PST by Pylon (You are gonna spend 20 dollars every month on paper towels anyway)
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To: JRandomFreeper
Keep those old tube-radio sets in good condition

Maybe our outdated nuke warheads that have the old 60s style electronics will survive better than Russia's upgraded electronics.

15 posted on 01/08/2009 5:06:55 PM PST by Evil Slayer (Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war)
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To: FlyingEagle

“The sky is falling, the sky is falling Chicken Little”

Unless we get more funding for research.

And control of the world to prevent it. (What ever it is)


16 posted on 01/08/2009 5:07:24 PM PST by Texas Fossil
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
A new
study from the National Academy of Sciences outlines grim possibilities on Earth for a worst-case scenario solar storm.

OK, brace yourselves.
Al gore, the dips**t dimwit ran with the last one.

I wonder which MENSA lagislator will adopt this doomsday scenario?

This type of article just illustrates how many idiots working with taxpayer money have waaaaaaay too much time on their hands.

17 posted on 01/08/2009 5:08:02 PM PST by Publius6961 (Change is not a plan; Hope is not a strategy.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Gee, I thought the sun was being very very quiet. Cycle 24 is late and that’s why it’s getting so cold all around the world:

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/01/


18 posted on 01/08/2009 5:08:28 PM PST by Need4Truth
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To: EagleUSA

19 posted on 01/08/2009 5:09:11 PM PST by wastedyears (In Canada, Santa says "Ho Ho, eh?")
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To: Evil Slayer
Unfortunately, everyone's nukes should work just fine. The electronics are hardened to radiation, and they tend to be stored under shielding masses of earth.

Your fridge, though, may be toast.

/johnny

20 posted on 01/08/2009 5:11:00 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (God Bless us all, each, and every one.)
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