A solar superstorm might wipe out the internet for weeks or even months, warns a scientist, Fox Weather reported.
Scientist warns about an “internet apocalypse” caused by the energy from a potential solar superstorm
While we enjoy the beauty of the Northern Lights, the energy from these solar storms could potentially cause what a researcher calls an “internet apocalypse.”
Professor Peter Becker and his team are on a mission to develop a warning system that can alert us about risky solar activity that might harm important technology.
“The internet has come of age during a time when the sun has been relatively quiet, and now it’s entering a more active time,” said Professor Peter Becker of George Mason University.
“It’s the first time in human history that there’s been an intersection of increased solar activity with our dependence on the internet and our global economic dependence on the internet.”
The latest update from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center suggests that Solar Cycle 25 might be more intense and hit its peak earlier than initially anticipated. Initial projections pointed to a peak around July 2025, but the center now hints that the most intense phase could happen as early as the beginning to the middle of 2024.
How is the Earth at risk from a solar superstorm?
The researcher explains what solar flares can do to the Earth. “When the sun brightens, and we see the radiation, and that’s kind of the muzzle flash. And then the cannon shot is the coronal mass ejection (CME). So, we can see the flash, but then the coronal mass ejection can go off in some random direction in space, but we can tell when they’re actually going to head towards Earth. And that gives us about 18 hours of warning, maybe 24 hours of warning, before those particles actually get to Earth and start messing with Earth’s magnetic field.”
The power grid, satellites, underground fiber optic cables with copper coatings, navigation and GPS systems, radio transmitters, and communication gear are all at risk.
“And then you get this kind of insidious thing where you could actually get current from ground,” Becker said. “So everybody thinks, ‘Oh, my computer’s grounded, I’m okay,'” but in an event like this, if you drive inductive currents to the surface of the Earth, it can almost work backwards, and you can end up actually frying things that you thought were relatively safe.”
“If we have a warning, every minute counts because you can put satellites in safe mode. You can take transformers off-line from the grid, so they don’t fry,” Becker said. According to him, the majority of big companies currently lack the financial motivation to fortify their systems.
