Space weather expert has ominous forecast

A massive explosion on the sun's surface has triggered the largest solar radiation storm since 2005, hurling charged particles at Earth. (NASA / May 4, 2012)

A stream of highly charged particles from the sun is headed straight toward Earth, threatening to plunge cities around the world into darkness and bring the global economy screeching to a halt.

This isn't the premise of the latest doomsday thriller. Massive solar storms have happened before — and another one is likely to occur soon, according to Mike Hapgood, a space weather scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, England.

Much of the planet's electronic equipment, as well as orbiting satellites, have been built to withstand these periodic geomagnetic storms. But the world is still not prepared for a truly damaging solar storm, Hapgood argues in a recent commentary published in the journal Nature.

Hapgood talked with The Times about the potential effects of such a storm and how the world should prepare for it.

We had a recent flare-up of publicity in March thanks to a solar storm that didn't really amount to much. Is this sort of coverage a good thing or a bad thing?

It makes such a good scare story, and it's entertaining. It was a mildly interesting event, certainly, but not at all big-league stuff. It makes people think, "Oh it's nothing really," so experts like myself are in danger of being in the crying-wolf situation. That's something that is a concern to me, personally.

[ We’re doomed!

Yes, eventually we are. It may be a sunstorm, a supervolcano, an asteroid or comet strike, a ferocious pandemic, climate change (yes, catastrophic change happens, but not for the reasons the Gorebots say) or something presently unpredictable. Eventually the human race will either be destroyed or reduced to a small remnant. Such catastrophes have happened in the past and will happen again given the passage of time. ]

Strip mine the earth and use those resources to colonize space, it is the only way to ensure our survival and the survival of every remaining species on earth.

Because in 1+ billion years all life on earth will be dead anyways....

UPDATE:

BIG SUNSPOT: One of the largest sunspot groups in years rotated over the sun's northeastern limb this weekend. With a least four dark cores larger than Earth, AR1476 sprawls more than 100,000 km from end to end, and makes an easy target for backyard solar telescopes. Amateur astronomer Alan Friedman sends this picture of the behemoth from his backyard in Buffalo, NY:

"AR1476 is firecrackler," says Friedman. Indeed, the active region is crackling with impulsive M-class solar flares. Based on the sunspot's complex 'beta-gamma' magnetic field, NOAA forecasters estimate a 70% chance of more M-flares during the next 24 hours. There is also a 5% chance of powerful X-flares.

"This one is going to be fun as turns to face us!" predicts Friedman. He might be right.

Sump'n Else,

1. The moon is leaving perigee, and in an orbital position that seems to exacerbate quakes.

2. There is a coronal hole created by the sunspot above that is about to face the earth. British Astrophysicist Piers Corbyn believes coronal holes facing the earth, contribute to increased earthquake activity.

3. We're experiencing a lull in 5+ magnitude quakes. Recent lulls have been followed immediately by significant quakes and activity.

Recent Average Day:

MAP 5.2 2012/05/03 18:08:06 17.479 -85.137 24.0 NORTH OF HONDURAS
MAP 5.1 2012/05/03 16:14:19 -5.492 152.231 57.7 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 5.0 2012/05/03 15:20:28 39.058 29.129 9.7 WESTERN TURKEY
MAP 5.2 2012/05/03 10:19:37 40.513 98.568 13.0 GANSU-NEI MONGOL BORDER REGION, CHINA
MAP 5.5 2012/05/03 10:09:36 32.814 47.712 10.0 IRAN-IRAQ BORDER REGION
MAP 5.0 2012/05/03 04:59:57 21.430 -108.759 10.2 OFF THE COAST OF BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR

Activity for the Last 4 Days:

MAP 5.3 2012/05/07 14:15:15 41.561 46.710 11.9 AZERBAIJAN
MAP 5.6 2012/05/07 04:40:30 41.541 46.766 23.3 AZERBAIJAN
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MAP 5.0 2012/05/06 12:40:59 -13.883 -75.793 59.1 CENTRAL PERU
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MAP 5.5 2012/05/05 20:23:31 -21.403 -174.126 3.9 TONGA
MAP 5.2 2012/05/05 20:12:34 38.185 141.667 50.9 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
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MAP 5.0 2012/05/04 16:23:44 2.009 89.675 14.5 NORTH INDIAN OCEAN

I know y'all don't want to hear it; I'm just sayin'...

UPDATE:

INCOMING CME: Sunspot AR1471 erupted on May 7th, producing an M1-class solar flare and an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME). According to a forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather lab, the cloud will reach Earth on May 9th at 13:40 UT (+/- 7 hours).

Minor but should be interesting to see if there is any effect on the current lull in 5+ earthquakes.

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