Solar Storms Could Be Earth's Next Katrina

[babsbunny]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124125001&f=1002&sc=igg2

by Jon Hamilton

February 26, 2010

A massive solar storm could leave millions of people around the world without electricity, running water, or phone service, government officials say.

That was their conclusion after participating in a tabletop exercise that looked at what might happen today if the Earth were struck by a solar storm as intense as the huge storms that occurred in 1921 and 1859.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. the earth has been active recently and now the Sun is having a go at us!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. I can believe this.... others not so much. n/t

[vadawg]

3. shit happens.... n/t

[MineralMan]

4. We are doomed, indeed...

But when? That's what nobody knows. So, I'm just going to pull the blankets over my head and go back to sleep. There's just no point in doing anything else.

[agent46]

15. My new year's resolution

My new year's resolution for 2010 was that I'd hang in there no matter what and stay drunk - not necessarily in that order.
It's worked pretty well so far.

:hippie:

[MineralMan]

19. Good plan, if these threads are any indication...

[agent46]

20. For one thing

It's a time-honored method for deflecting solar storms.

:toast:

[WCGreen]

5. We'll all be killed... We'll all be killed...

Sounds like a typical day of programming at the History Channel

[MineralMan]

6. When will it end? When will it all end?

Run for your lives...

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. Nasa isn't concerned about it so why bother???

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/10mar_stormwarning.htm



Solar Storm Warning

03.10.2006

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March 10, 2006: It's official: Solar minimum has arrived. Sunspots have all but vanished. Solar flares are nonexistent. The sun is utterly quiet.

Like the quiet before a storm.

This week researchers announced that a storm is coming--the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.

see captionThat was a solar maximum. The Space Age was just beginning: Sputnik was launched in Oct. 1957 and Explorer 1 (the first US satellite) in Jan. 1958. In 1958 you couldn't tell that a solar storm was underway by looking at the bars on your cell phone; cell phones didn't exist. Even so, people knew something big was happening when Northern Lights were sighted three times in Mexico. A similar maximum now would be noticed by its effect on cell phones, GPS, weather satellites and many other modern technologies.

Right: Intense auroras over Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1958.

Dikpati's prediction is unprecedented. In nearly-two centuries since the 11-year sunspot cycle was discovered, scientists have struggled to predict the size of future maxima—and failed. Solar maxima can be intense, as in 1958, or barely detectable, as in 1805, obeying no obvious pattern.

The key to the mystery, Dikpati realized years ago, is a conveyor belt on the sun.

[MineralMan]

11. So, what are you planning to do to prepare?

You obviously can't do anything to prevent solar activity, so you must be doing something to prepare for it. If not, what's the point of worrying about something that may not happen for another 50 years?

But, if you are making plans, let's hear them. Maybe we can learn from your research and planning.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

12. I plan to remain firmly grounded in the belief that the sun is

driven by external electrical forces. Your mileage may vary. Being grounded is a good thing when facing such a storm btw.

[MineralMan]

18. Alrighty, then...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Luckily it will knock out the sentient robots which will revolt and enslave us all.

[htuttle]

9. Sci Fi channel did that a few weeks ago

I think they're on attacks by giant snakes all day today.

[Edweird]

10. Anything that damages the power grid keeps me working.

Bring it on... I need the money!

[Dover]

13. Are rooftop solar collectors/panels affected by solar storms?...n/t

[heli]

22. They shouldn't be affected

They work by collecting photons travelling at the speed of light. There will be photons as long as the sun shines.

[Jennicut]

14. Saw a cool 3-D presentation about this at the Science Center in CT.

But it would knock out communications systems and COULD fry the power grids.

"The most violent explosions in our solar system are happening right now on the Sun. Billion megaton blasts shoot out solar prominences that loop into space for thousands of miles. These Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) create radiation responsible for the stunning auroras that are the northern and southern lights at the Earth's poles. But they can also have catastrophic consequences for our planet. Massive geomagnetic storms have been known to wreak havoc on manned spacecraft, destroy satellites and disable power grids."http://www.ctsciencecenter.org/things-to-do/3d-sun.aspx

Interesting but may not kill us.

[TransitJohn]

16. Time to bomb the sun.

It'll never learn.

[Dappleganger]

17. /grabs sunscreen

[timeforpeace]

21. They must have just watched "Knowing" with Nicholas Cage.

[PhD]

23. I think you've been watching too many SyFy Channel movies