If anyone's worrying now about EMP risks, yes, we should prepare for that.

[pnwmom]

The risk is real. But not because of terrorist attacks -- because of the SUN.

And if we prepare our infrastructure to deal with a sudden electro-magnetic "attack" from the sun, that would also incidentally help prevent a terrorist from getting incredibly lucky.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/15/no-you-dont-really-need-to-worry-about-an-emp-attack/

Republican warnings about an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) attack, explained

So Iran or a terrorist would need a missile capable of delivering a large bomb to a precise point in the sky. As Butt wrote for Space Review in 2010, that's just not feasible. Rogue nations don't have nuclear capabilities of that kind or, according to Butt, the means of delivering them. If such a strike were to happen tomorrow, with a newly-built hydrogen bomb on a new type of missile, whoever launched it would be relying on an awful lot of luck that everything would go right. And it wouldn't take us long to figure out who did it.

Anyway, if you want to damage the United States, it's far easier to drop a nuclear bomb in the middle of Manhattan than to detonate it in the atmosphere. "Putting yourself in the mindframe of a terrorist that just wants to cause harm," Butt said, "it doesn't make much sense."

SNIP

A coronal mass ejection from the Sun could send a magnetic field toward Earth that could cause an E3-like effect on the transformers that make up our electrical grid. Butt repeatedly noted that while the threat of a nuclear EMP was small, the threat of a solar one was real. (As he noted in a 2012 article for the Times, it appears to have happened a few years ago in Quebec.)

"Let's not throw out the solar-geomagnetic baby with the EMP bathwater," he said. Preparing our infrastructure to handle an EMP from the Sun would help us prevent damage during a hostile strike, as well."

[leftofcool]

1. Well said!

[HassleCat]

2. It happened before

I think it was in the 1880s, before we had electronic devices, so the reports from that era don't give us a clear indication of what might happen today. Every once in a while, the sun erupts in a coronal mass ejection (CME) that spews radiation and ionized particles all over the place. Minor CMEs are common, but the sun produces an 800 pound gorilla CME every 100 years or so, as a guess. We get almost no warning, so hardening things up ahead of time is a good idea.

[pnwmom]

4. Thanks. The article also mentioned one that affected Canada. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. In the 1970s iirc, and it was a localized doozie

[NutmegYankee]

7. You are thinking of the 1859 Carrington Event. nt

[HassleCat]

8. That's the one

It was strong enough to be seen with the naked eye, and it created electrical surges in telegraph lines that started fires and shocked telegraph operators. If something like that happened today, it would cause major damage.

[NutmegYankee]

15. It would toast the entire electric grid and any copper communications lines.

Only fiber optic communications lines would be spared from surges.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Now you've done it

Some Ignoramus (thinking of you Mr Inhofe) will want to arrest the sun, or declare preemptive war against the Sun.



I mean we are talking of a man who says no global warming, just watch this snowball fly into the rotunda.

[PeoViejo]

6. From a personal standpoint

I would buy an old car that doesn't have a computer and a lot of fancy electronic gadgets.

[HassleCat]

9. Even an old car would be fried

A really strong event would induce a big pulse in the ignition coil.

[PeoViejo]

11. ...A lot easier to repair.

A new ignition coil from the Junkyard and you're back in business.

[Thor_MN]

12. The ignition coils in the junk yard are protected?

How?

[PeoViejo]

16. By not being in a car, and thus not connected.

I'm sure the local NAPA dealer would have something suitable in stock. Even better, buy a spare now.

[Thor_MN]

17. You don't seem to know much about electricity.

Or junkyards. Being connected to a car has nothing to do with a coil burning out in an EMP. The EMP induces a current in the coil. If the current is high enough, it will overcome the insulation on the coil wires, arc and burn the insulation. A strong EMP is going to burn coils regardless of what they are or are not connected to.

[NutmegYankee]

14. Many cars would probably survive, as the electronics are surrounded by metal (faraday cage)

http://www.empcommission.org/

The EMP Commission was established pursuant to title XIV of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106-398; 114 Stat. 1654A-345). Duties of the EMP Commission include assessing:

the nature and magnitude of potential high-altitude EMP threats to the United States from all potentially hostile states or non-state actors that have or could acquire nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles enabling them to perform a high-altitude EMP attack against the United States within the next 15 years;
the vulnerability of United States military and especially civilian systems to an EMP attack, giving special attention to vulnerability of the civilian infrastructure as a matter of emergency preparedness;
the capability of the United States to repair and recover from damage inflicted on United States military and civilian systems by an EMP attack; and
the feasibility and cost of hardening select military and civilian systems against EMP attack.

...........................
http://www.empcommission.org/docs/A2473-EMP_Commission-7MB.pdf

We tested a sample of 37 cars in an EMP simulation laboratory, with automobile vintages ranging from 1986 through 2002. Automobiles of these vintages include extensive electronics and represent a significant fraction of automobiles on the road today. The testing was conducted by exposing running and nonrunning automobiles to sequentially increasing EMP field intensities. If anomalous response (either temporary or permanent) was observed, the testing of that particular automobile was stopped. If no anomalous response was observed, the testing was continued up to the field intensity limits of the simulation capability (approximately 50 kV/m).

Automobiles were subjected to EMP environments under both engine turned off and engine turned on conditions. No effects were subsequently observed in those automobiles that were not turned on during EMP exposure. The most serious effect observed on running automobiles was that the motors in three cars stopped at field strengths of approximately 30 kV/m or above. In an actual EMP exposure, these vehicles would glide to a stop and require the driver to restart them. Electronics in the dashboard of one automobile were damaged and required repair. Other effects were relatively minor. Twenty-five automobiles exhibited malfunctions that could be considered only a nuisance (e.g., blinking dashboard lights) and did not require driver intervention to correct. Eight of the 37 cars tested did not exhibit any anomalous response.

Based on these test results, we expect few automobile effects at EMP field levels below 25 kV/m. Approximately 10 percent or more of the automobiles exposed to higher field levels may experience serious EMP effects, including engine stall, that require driver intervention to correct. We further expect that at least two out of three automobiles on the road will manifest some nuisance response at these higher field levels. The serious malfunctions could trigger car crashes on U.S. highways; the nuisance malfunctions could exacerbate this condition. The ultimate result of automobile EMP exposure could be triggered crashes that damage many more vehicles than are damaged by the EMP, the consequent loss of life, and multiple injuries.

But if you really wanted to be sure - a diesel engine would be practically immune.

[justiceischeap]

10. This is the one thing, if I think about it too long, makes me

want to go full-on prepper.

[Thor_MN]

13. "delivering a large bomb to a precise point in the sky"

It would not have to be a precise point. Line of sight is an awful lot of sky. It would have to be a sizable nuclear bomb, but anywhere in the sky is precise enough.

[Orrex]

18. We must invade The Sun immediately

Well, maybe not immediately. Maybe at night or during an eclipse, when it's safe.

[Sam_Fields]

19. That is why I always have my tin foil hat ready.