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Earth Science

New Studies Warn of Cataclysmic Solar Superstorms (scientificamerican.com) 102

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
A powerful disaster-inducing geomagnetic storm is an inevitability in the near future, likely causing blackouts, satellite failures, and more. From a report: Unlike other threats to our planet, such as supervolcanoes or asteroids, the time frame for a cataclysmic geomagnetic storm -- caused by eruptions from our sun playing havoc with Earth's magnetic field -- is comparatively short. It could happen in the next decade -- or in the next century. All we know is, based on previous events, our planet will almost definitely be hit relatively soon, probably within 100 years. Geomagnetic storms are caused by sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections, resulting in calamities to which our modern technological society is becoming ever more susceptible.

Most experts regard the Carrington Event, a so-called superstorm that occurred in September 1859, as the most powerful geomagnetic storm on record. But new data suggest that a later storm in May 1921 may have equaled or even eclipsed the Carrington Event in intensity, causing at least three major fires in the U.S., Canada and Sweden -- and highlighting the damaging effects these storms can have on Earth today. In a paper published in the journal Space Weather, Jeffrey Love of the U.S. Geological Survey and his colleagues reexamined the intensity of the 1921 event, known as the New York Railroad Storm, in greater detail than ever before.

Although different measures of intensity exist, geomagnetic storms are often rated on an index called disturbance storm time (Dst) -- a way of gauging global magnetic activity by averaging out values for the strength of Earth's magnetic field measured at multiple locations. Our planet's baseline Dst level is about -20 nanoteslas (nT), with a "superstorm" condition defined as occurring when levels fall below -250 nT. Studies of the very limited magnetic data from the Carrington Event peg its intensity at anywhere from -850 to -1,050 nT. According to Love's study, the 1921 storm, however, came in at about -907 nT. "The 1921 storm could have been more intense than the 1859 storm," Love says. "Prior to our paper, [the 1921 storm] was understood to be intense, but how intense wasn't really clear."
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New Studies Warn of Cataclysmic Solar Superstorms More

New Studies Warn of Cataclysmic Solar Superstorms

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  • So, with the artilcle had.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cayenne8 ( 626475 ) on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @02:16PM (#59257824) Homepage Journal
    ....mentioned exactly what the forecasted problems to the current earth population and societies would be should such an even occur?

    It only mentioned a forest fire back in the days...how does such an even cause forest fires?

    I was under the assumption that it would fry out electronics like an EMP...is that more the scenario?

    How widespread would ti be? Is any electronic under threat or mostly like CPU's, etc?

    Would it effect the whole earth or just the side that was facing the sun upon event impact?

    • Re:So, with the artilcle had.... (Score:5, Informative)

      by religionofpeas ( 4511805 ) on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @02:21PM (#59257860)

      Would it effect the whole earth or just the side that was facing the sun upon event impact?

      The Carrington even lasted two days, so it could impact the entire planet.

      I think the biggest problem is the electric grid's power transformers. If these burn out on a massive scale, it will take a very long time to fix, especially when the power is out, and people start freaking out.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Calydor ( 739835 )

        Alright, so here's a question. If we have a way of seeing it coming, could we theoretically shut down EVERYTHING, turn off every single power plant and transformer etc., then boot it all up a couple of days later when the storm has passed?

        Those are going to be a sucky couple of days, especially in winter because you'll be without heat, but it's a short enough period that it should be survivable - food in the fridge won't have time to go bad, the freezer might thaw out but the food itself should stay edible

        • If it happens in the winter many in the mid-west wouldn't be without heat because storms cause power outages and they plan accordingly. We haven't had a bad one where I live for almost a decade and are due another big storm with multiple days of power outages so I'm already preparing.

          • At any time other than late September or late March, it's winter somewhere on Earth.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Agripa ( 139780 )

            If it happens in the winter many in the mid-west wouldn't be without heat because storms cause power outages and they plan accordingly. We haven't had a bad one where I live for almost a decade and are due another big storm with multiple days of power outages so I'm already preparing.

            But many would. I learned that lesson after ice storms in Missouri left me without power for more than a week. Gas heating is useless unless you can power the furnace. Now I keep a backup generator, 120 pounds of propane, and 25 gallons of kerosene just in case.

        •     Please! Just nobody tell facebook.

        • Re:So, with the artilcle had.... (Score:4, Insightful)

          by DavenH ( 1065780 ) on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @02:57PM (#59258030)
          I don't think shutting down grid-powered electric currents would do anything. What the solar storm will do will induce very high current through anything conductive. You need to have Faraday cages around all your electronics to protect from that.

          • Faraday duct tape EVERYTHING!

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Chas ( 5144 )

            Additionally, modern society simply cannot "just turn everything off" for "a couple of days".

            Without refrigeration and "just in time" delivery, large urban centers (CITIES) would be in deep shit almost immediately due to supply depletion.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Agripa ( 139780 )

            I don't think shutting down grid-powered electric currents would do anything. What the solar storm will do will induce very high current through anything conductive. You need to have Faraday cages around all your electronics to protect from that.

            The currents involved are not that high to cause destruction by themselves. But the common mode induced current easily drives a power transformer into saturation and that is what destroys it. Magnetic amplifiers take advantage of this mode of transformer operation to act as amplifiers.

        • Alright, so here's a question. If we have a way of seeing it coming, could we theoretically shut down EVERYTHING, turn off every single power plant and transformer etc., then boot it all up a couple of days later when the storm has passed?

          We do have ways to see it coming. Solar storms take about three days to get to earth. They are often associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that can be observed with a telescope as they occur on the sun.

          Those are going to be a sucky couple of days, especially in winter because you'll be without heat, but it's a short enough period that it should be survivable - food in the fridge won't have time to go bad, the freezer might thaw out but the food itself should stay edible long enough etc.

          You may not need to turn everything off, but certainly you would need to design hardened systems that can withstand such events, and/or disconnect widespread power-distribution systems into smaller subsystems. Riding it out in space is more challenging, because spacecraft can pick up strong deep stati

          • Ways to see it coming are getting better as well : https://www.esa.int/Our_Activi... [esa.int]

            The grid can be hardened with some notice time to allow it to ride out a storm. This is important, because there are a very limited number of replacement transformers available at any one time and they take months to manufacture.

        • It may be sucky for you, but it's going to be deadly for some. Woe to you if you happened to be on a ventilator or where dependent on supplementary O2. Can you imagine how many folks are going to die?

          You and I may be fine, I know me and my family would survive with the water and food and fuel we have on hand quite comfortably and I have arms and ammo enough to protect ourselves.. We might actually have some fun together with the closet full of board games and no computers to isolate ourselves with. But my

          • Doesn't stop PG&E from turning off the power for several days whenever it looks a little windy outside.

        • The 1858 Carrington event caused havoc with telegraph systems all over the world, including discharges.

          Carrington was a massive nothing burger. In an era of piss poor circuit protection there were only small outages that lasted hours. Vast majority of the system was operational for the duration.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Anonymous Coward

            And everything at that point was largely nice thick wiring without active semiconductor devices all over the place. (Cat's whiskers notwithstanding, because we didn't put billions of them in a tiny space back then.)

        • Those are going to be a sucky couple of days, especially in winter because you'll be without heat, but it's a short enough period that it should be survivable - food in the fridge won't have time to go bad, the freezer might thaw out but the food itself should stay edible long enough etc.

          I'd be MORE afraid of it happening in the summer heat without air conditioning (down here, AC clicks on basically in mid to late April and doesn't really click off for any length of time till first part of November).

          Food

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Calydor ( 739835 )

            Even with spoilage, if it's only two or three days most people (let's ignore the previous point about the elderly, the sick etc. because we are talking about a worst case scenario for civilization at large) should survive going without food for a couple of days.

            • Even with spoilage, if it's only two or three days most people (let's ignore the previous point about the elderly, the sick etc. because we are talking about a worst case scenario for civilization at large) should survive going without food for a couple of days.

              A couple days sure.

              I have a feeling something like this could knock things out for at least 1-2 weeks, towards the end of that, things could get messy.

              And if power goes off....I'm be a bit worried about convicts breaking out of prison, and well...

              • The gates don't suddenly open when the power goes out.

              • That would be a very bad time to be female, as that if it goes that long, there aren't gonna be any cops to help you.

                While I don't think that that's going to be nearly as much of an issue as you seem to, just remember, your best friends in such a situation are Mr Smith & Mr Wesson....

                • While I don't think that that's going to be nearly as much of an issue as you seem to, just remember, your best friends in such a situation are Mr Smith & Mr Wesson....

                  Unless the current gang of Dem. presidential contenders get their way and take my best self defense guns for that type of situation away.....I'd REALLY want capacity for that scenario.

          • Since so many modern vehicles have basically what amounts to computers controlling many of the functions necessary for the proper operation of the engine, I would imagine a Carrington style event may render many of these vehicles immobile. That's a solid argument (to me) for keeping around an older car with no such electronics in the engine compartment. Those cars would suddenly become very valuable.

          • Even though modern cars are shielded to some extent, a really big storm would fry a lot of the cars out there, especially electric ones with all the goodies on board.
            Would be nice to find an an old pre 80's diesel VW for just such emergencies, but most have probably been crushed by now.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rtb61 ( 674572 )

          Here is how you deal with it. You retain manual systems and couriers on diesel motorbikes and in the event of a disaster, you use those the manage the bureaucracy of rebuilding the digital and power systems, with spare parts in storage. Without the management systems, to manage the repairs society will collapse in the chaos. Even diesel trucks will need to be maintained just in case.

      • I think the biggest problem is the electric grid's power transformers. If these burn out on a massive scale, it will take a very long time to fix, especially when the power is out, and people start freaking out.

        Check...so, making sure to keep stocked on water, fuel, food, guns and ammo.

      • Re:So, with the artilcle had.... (Score:5, Informative)

        by Areyoukiddingme ( 1289470 ) on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @04:24PM (#59258490)

        I think the biggest problem is the electric grid's power transformers. If these burn out on a massive scale, it will take a very long time to fix, especially when the power is out, and people start freaking out.

        Fortunately they won't. There are circuit breakers throughout the system. There have to be, for maintenance and for dealing with the asshole colliding with a utility pole, bringing it down and shorting the conductors together. Also for dealing with wind storms tearing up poles and transmission towers.

        Search YouTube for substation circuit breaker arcs. Actually breaking the circuit when you're talking about tens of thousands of volts in air is a nontrivial problem, but it is a solved problem. There are six different ways of doing it in common usage. High voltage AC circuit breakers that can break a 765 kV circuit are off the shelf. (In a manner of speaking. Almost no one buys one with that kind of capacity and literally puts it on a shelf. They're too expensive not to use.) Siemens and ABB both sell circuit breakers rated for 1200 kV.

        The grid will be fine after the next Carrington event. Most transformers and generation equipment will have been isolated by their associated circuit breakers. The longest lines are also the lines that routinely carry extremely high voltages and are therefore designed for it. Once generation sources are cut off, ongoing eddy currents induced by the storm don't exceed the normal carrying capacity of the lines. Lines designed for lower voltages also tend to be shorter, so the storm has less room to induce damaging voltages. It will take some time to test everything to be sure the equipment was successfully protected by the breakers, and then a whole lot of big guys with big wrenches will be very busy driving around turning breakers back on in the right order to bring the grid back up in a stable fashion. Trivial, no, but understood. Power companies deal with this sort of thing every time there's a major ice storm or tornado.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Agripa ( 139780 )

          Power transformers are regularly destroyed by much smaller solar storms despite active circuit protection. Alternators and induction motors are susceptible to damage also. A large induction motor used in industry with effectively DC applied across its inputs while running is better imagined than witnessed; think of where the torque is applied when the rotor locks.

      • "when the power is out, and people start freaking out "
        You might be underestimating the western world's dependence on refrigeration technology. If the power is universally "out" for more than say, a week or two, there are large populations (cf every major metro area) that might see critical food shortages.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Agripa ( 139780 )

        I think the biggest problem is the electric grid's power transformers. If these burn out on a massive scale, it will take a very long time to fix, especially when the power is out, and people start freaking out.

        That about sums it up. The DC currents produced in long transmission lines during a geomagnetic storm cause the power transformers at each end to go into saturation which can easily destroy them and the resulting power irregularities can destroy other things. It has happened several times due to lesser storms.

        The transformers are each essentially made to custom specifications and produced on a long lead time so replacement is difficult as well as expensive. Like many things which depend on manufacturing,

    • Re:So, with the artilcle had.... (Score:4, Informative)

      by ClickOnThis ( 137803 ) on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @02:46PM (#59257984) Journal

      ....mentioned exactly what the forecasted problems to the current earth population and societies would be should such an even occur?

      It only mentioned a forest fire back in the days...how does such an even cause forest fires?

      It would not cause a fire directly. There's no way that such an event could heat up the atmosphere enough to do that.

      However, such an event can induce strong currents in electrical systems -- enough to cause electrical discharges that could start a fire. The 1858 Carrington event caused havoc with telegraph systems all over the world, including discharges.

      I was under the assumption that it would fry out electronics like an EMP...is that more the scenario?

      Yes, but not just electronics. Anything long and conducting, such as electrical power or communication lines and oil pipelines can be affected and damaged.

      How widespread would ti be? Is any electronic under threat or mostly like CPU's, etc?

      Potentially worldwide, per above. As I said, anything long and conducting would be at risk. CPUs might be affected by current surges in the mains, but otherwise probably wouldn't suffer damage. Electronics on satellites, on the other hand, face another risk: the satellites would pick up strong static charges due to the solar wind. Discharges of that built-up charge could cause damage.

      Would it effect the whole earth or just the side that was facing the sun upon event impact?

      The solar wind affects the earth's magnetic field on both sides. It's complicated, but the basics are as follows. On the dayside the solar wind compresses the geomagnetic field and a bow shock develops as the wind is turned aside by the field. The wind streams round the earth and collects for awhile in the geomagnetic tail. Wind built up in the tail separates periodically and continues in the nightward direction, sort of like drips from a faucet. All of this can cause terrestrial EM events on both sides.

    • .It only mentioned a forest fire back in the days...how does such an even cause forest fires?

      The Space Weather article states "on 14 May, excessive electric currents on telephone lines caused the Union Railroad Station in Albany, New York, to catch fire; the station burned to the ground, and a “great many” Bell System cables were damaged (Telephone Review, 12, 1921, p. 130)."

      I am having a hard time believing that even a major solar storm can induce enough electric current in a wire to directly cause a fire... I suspect there's some major intermediate steps missing there. Something like

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      A solar storm won't affect your electronics. They can induce currents in very long wires, that act like antenna, and could damage insufficiently hardened satellites. Yes, if you shut off the power then most of the equipment should be fine. We have satellites to provide early warning for just that reason.

      Geeks love to worry about this kind of thing though.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      A brief survey of the article didn't justify the use of the words "near future". It's a genuine problem, and we know it's happened within the century, but this doesn't say it will happen within the coming decade....of course, it also doesn't say it won't.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Recall the Carrington event. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
  • such an event should trigger a complete internet shutdown. People then will have again to learn how to talk with neighbours, and meet real people, rather than following virtual "friends" from the other side of the globe. This will cause a general improvement of human relationships, collaborations, and creativity, swiftly counterbalancing the effects of internet collapse...

    • People then will have again to learn how to talk with neighbours,

      And of course, looting the plasma TV store for when the power comes back.

      • Plasma TV? I got a few that you can take for free... NOBODY wants a plasma TV anymore...Not even Goodwill takes them anymore. It costs them money to get rid of them.

        • Plasma TV? I got a few that you can take for free... NOBODY wants a plasma TV anymore...Not even Goodwill takes them anymore. It costs them money to get rid of them.

          Because they cause global warming /s

      • And breaking into old people's homes looking for sets of encyclopedias.

    • Except for all the critical services that depend on IT, like hospitals, food storage, and bank databases that will also get clobbered.
      This kind of scenario is my worst natural disaster type nightmare since I don't live in a tornado/hurricane/earthquake/forest fire type region.
      People will go nuts without electricity for a few days: food will begin to spoil, communications will break down, transportation will be impacted.. but if the financial system collapses and people lose all their money, there is no way

  • That was freaky. The sky looked like a lava lamp. I could hear FM stations from 500 miles away. Last for 3-4 days I think.
    • yes, I do. it was wonderful. a Carrington class event will bring the beauty of aurora to billions of people especially if the grid shuts down and city lights go dark.
      • Part of my bucket list is to go someplace where there is no light pollution. I want to see the sky/stars without any interference.

        • About 30 years ago, my wife and I drove the Al-Can highway. It was the middle of the summer, but we still saw aurorae on several occasions. The terrestrial landscape is pretty cool too, especially once you get up into the Yukon.

          I highly recommend it.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by sconeu ( 64226 )

          I got that for free 25 years ago... The Northridge earthquake shut off all power where I lived.

        • Try the Namib desert. You can read a news paper by star light there.

    • There was another one on Halloween in 2003 (?) The entire sky in New England was crimson waves, it was freaky AF.

  • If we had an array of detection satellites orbiting the Earth and Sun, then we'd have time to warn people and shut the power off if a big flair happens our way.

    Such satellites should be relatively small and cheap because they'd have only one job. (A select few might have more instruments.)

    • If we had an array of detection satellites orbiting the Earth and Sun, then we'd have time to warn people and shut the power off if a big flair happens our way.

      Such satellites should be relatively small and cheap because they'd have only one job. (A select few might have more instruments.)

      That certainly can help. Such satellites have been used for a long time to study and model the sun's behavior and how it interacts with the earth's magnetic field.

      But if you want to predict solar storms, a cheap way to do it is just to look at the sun with a telescope. Increased sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections often are harbingers of a solar storm, and can give you three days' notice.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Tablizer ( 95088 )

        But if you want to predict solar storms, a cheap way to do it is just to look at the sun with a telescope

        I've read it's difficult to get precise path predictions that way. Interplanetary plasma is difficult to measure and map from inside of Earth's atmosphere.

        • But if you want to predict solar storms, a cheap way to do it is just to look at the sun with a telescope

          I've read it's difficult to get precise path predictions that way. Interplanetary plasma is difficult to measure and map from inside of Earth's atmosphere.

          You're not wrong -- it is difficult. A spaceborne observation system is certainly helpful. [nasa.gov] But there is a great deal you can do from the ground. [phys.org]

          • But some accounts say it can burn our power systems even if the power is off, if it's strong enough. The switches probably need to be closer together to make contiguous segments smaller.

            A long wire acts like an antenna, picking up electromagnetic charges, and potentially cooking the entire length even if it's technically "off". And maybe add some kind of surge absorption capitors.

            We should probably make these changes to our infrastructure anyhow in prep for "pulse weapons" intended to fry electronics.

      • But if you want to predict solar storms, a cheap way to do it is just to look at the sun with a telescope. Increased sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections often are harbingers of a solar storm, and can give you three days' notice.

        .
        Though if the anti-telescope movement succeeds, we won't have that option either.

    • Re:Satellites relatively cheap prevention (Score:4, Informative)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 ) on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @05:48PM (#59258840)

      We have (and have had for a long time) a fleet of solar observing satellites, several of which are at Lagrange points so they can give advanced warning.

  • EMF-proof sleeping bag to the rescue (Score:5, Funny)

    by mmutka ( 5495542 ) on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @02:53PM (#59258022) Homepage
    When the storm hits, just go hide inside your $500 EMF-proof sleeping bag, you'll be fine.

    • Do they sell one with integrated Wi-Fi? People might need to get on the internet while protecting themselves from those terrible EMF signals.

  • Really folks, that doesn't help.

    All those wires out there which are miles and miles long are the problem. Just turning off the power isn't enough, you basically have to disconnect the wires from all the "sensitive" equipment or the EMF generated will arc over and cause the same damage it would with the power on.

    You basically have to unplug everything... Disconnect it from the miles and miles of wire... And it doesn't matter if the power is on or not once you do that.

  • Clearly we can't shield the earth. But are there things we can do to mitigate this kind of event?

  • The problem is magnetic effects. (Score:3)

    by Grog6 ( 85859 ) on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @03:50PM (#59258332)
    All our power distribution systems are very similar to the telegraph systems that caught on fire during the previous solar storms. These are long cables, tied to a big ass transformer at both ends. These systems are designed for operation at 300kV-400kV, so they are well insulated. The moving magnetic field of the "Solar Storm" or Coronal Mass Ejection is big enough that in the days of the telegraph lines, The generated high voltage arced across the keys, and effectively shorted out the windings that the telegraph lines present to the magnetic fields, setting the equipment, and lines themselves in some cases, on fire. High voltages on the lines were able to jump to ground in some cases, setting the surrounding forests or fields on fire. Now, we have bigger lines, better insulators, and more expensive stuff tied to both ends of these long, high voltage generating cables. The transformers that do power distribution are very large and expensive; they will have to be replaced, and they have a several month leadtime. Disconnecting them might not even help, as the magnetic field moving across a disconnected transformer might be enough to make it arc across itself, even if it's not connected to anything. My favorite whack job and true believer, G. Gordon Libby, of Watergate fame, wrote an article for Omni magazine back in the 80's that mentions the effects of losing these transformers.

    Nation's Capital and Seven Largest Metropolitan Areas Blacked Out Indefinitely Since the devastating New York City blackout of 1977 much has been done by way of redundancy to protect entire nets from chain-reaction failures. Nevertheless the terrorists exploited a vulnerability brought to governmental attention several administrations ago (and ignored since) by Dr. Robert H. Kupperman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The terrorists did their homework very thoroughly. Kupperman's point is as follows: In order to achieve economies of scale, generated electrical power is transmitted over long distances at extremely high voltage (EHV). Think of a power line as a water pipe. In electrical terms, amperage is the flow of water through the pipe. Voltage is the pressure. The higher the pressure, the greater the amount of water a given pipe can transport. To get water under pressure requires a pump. To get electricity under pressure requires a transformer. EHV requires an EHV transformer, both to step the voltage up at the beginning of its journey and down at its destination. There are only about 500 EHV transformers in the entire nation. Their locations are shown on a map available to the public. Most are protected by no more than a chain-link fence and warning signs that serve to confirm exactly what they are. EHV transformers are sophisticated pieces of equipment not manufactured in the United States. The lead time for delivery of a new one from abroad is 18 months. They can be put out of operation by a high-powered rifle. Thus a small number of terroristsâ"a few using .458 Winchester magnum rifles (as was the woman killed by the SEALs), and the rest Israeli-made copies of our Marine Corps' new 40mm lightweight, polymer/ceramic, near-handgunâ"size grenade launchers-took out the few key EHV transformers around Washington, DC, New York City/Newark, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Atlanta, Oakland/San Francisco, and Los Angeles. San Diego was saved when an element of SEAL Team 3, on a security penetration test mission, came upon one of the terrorists who panicked and fired on them. After killing her, the SEALs grasped her mission, alerted their superiors, and in short order we had nearly half the few prisoners captured to date. The aftermath of the EHV attack has been devastating. There is no power for the water supply pumps. The effects of arson are impossible to control. Martial law is barely able to maintain order now that the stores are looted and burned. Vigilante justice is rampant. Sanitation has broken down, and the rats are out of control in New York City It

    • Sanitation has broken down, and the rats are out of control in New York City.

      I thought you said this was speculative fiction?

    • This is very badly structured; sorry about that.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by yusing ( 216625 )

      Re: G.Gordon 'Libby' :

      The culprit connected with Watergate was G. Gordon Liddy. He often sparred publicly with G. Gordon Leary, so that may have bought him enough cachet to make it into Omni.

      The only highly notable 'Libby' does sell a lot of beans ... which could lead some to confuse 'him' with Liddy.

  • How timely (Score:3)

    by The Snazster ( 5236943 ) on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @04:25PM (#59258500)
    How timely that the American president issued an executive order to prepare for an EMPs in May of this year. Would be too funny if, years down the road, even his detractors had to give him credit for what we were able to save from the electromagnetic apocalypse.
  • OK, so everyone is now officially bored with global warming and we can expect a new wave of 'OMFG the sky is falling' articles.

  • This video tells me that there isn't a whole lot to fear.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    Such storms are rare and the effects when they do hit is something that many have already prepared for. We have detectors to give early warning and measures to address such issues.

  • The non stop push (propaganda?) for getting everyone to switch to electric transportation that gives modern civilization a "single point of failure" infrastructure might possibly be seen as foolhardy.

    I know! Let's push for everything to be electric!! Airplanes, transport and delivery trucks, and everything. You can't store a multi day/week/month supply but don't worry about silly details like that...

    • "We have all stopped eating meat. We have all sacrificed all of our technological comforts. We all live in environment-friendly mud huts, eating only wild nuts and berries that we gather by hand each day. We have finally saved the Earth and ensured the long term survival of our species for the future. Yay us for all being miserable! We won!"

      Then, the universe replies with this. [youtube.com]

  • Having read all of the Maze Runner books, I can appreciate the effect this could have on the population and society. While, it may happen now, in ten years, or in 1000 - it should be something to be concerned about.

    • It makes me think of the Hitchhiker series.
       
      All these silly humans are going on about global climate change when the Earth is scheduled for demolition so the new hyperspatial express route can be built. What are they even going on about?

  • ...this is something that happens unpredictably but generally cynically, so we should be frightened/concerned.

    Yet...paleoclimate studies show a sudden spike of warming/co2 abundance every 120,000-or-so years (last one about 140,000, so we're well past due) and when we see it start to happen again, THIS TIME it's clearly human-caused?

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