A Huge One on the Way? Big Solar Storms Could Take Down GPS , the Electric Grid, and Everything on People's Phones
The destructive power of a solar storm may have all but forgotten by people, considering that the most dramatic occurrence was from way back in 1859. With the sun now at its lowest recorded minimum in 100 years, the world might just be about to be reminded of the mess a solar flare can make out of its dependence on modern technology.
"The biggest geomagnetic storms come when the sun's very weak," astrophysicist Scott McIntosh, who directs the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said about a possible incident in an interview with the Business Insider.
While people are quick on the uptake when it comes to news of solar eclipses, a full-blown solar flare could turn out to be just as spectacular — just not in the way people might like. A repeat of the incident like the 1859 Carrington flare would have many times the impact of the event, which was already disruptive to the available technology even back then.
"That was blowing up telegraph lines all over the world," McIntosh noted, leaving it to the imagination just what a similar incident could do to today's high-density electric grids, satellites and mobile devices.
Such an event would be nothing short of catastrophic, with compasses going haywire, wires and cables shorting out and even falling satellites. "Could you imagine DC or New York City being without power for six months, or eight months a year because of a solar event that they didn't forecast well?" McIntosh mused.
As recently as 2003, a rash of solar flares erupted in October and November that year. The incident forced airplanes to reroute or stay grounded, spacecraft instruments were turned off and the whole of Sweden went without power.
That's all one can do about it when it happens, according to McIntosh. "You batten down the hatches electronically, you power everything down, and try and ride it out," he added.
