On the morning of September 1, 1859, Richard Carrington noticed something unusual about the Sun.. As he does every day, he watched the sunspots with a telescope from his garden in London, admiring. He was very lucky to be able to observe. big glare emerges From the surface and in the midst of bewilderment he realized that this was an extraordinary event.
However, limited knowledge of space weather at the time made it impossible to gauge the severity of the situation: a large Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) It released into the universe an amount of energy equivalent to that of ten billion atomic bombs launched from the surface of the Sun and set the Earth in its path. Its effects will be felt 17 hours later.
The day the world went offline
In 1832, Samuel Morse, along with Alfred Vail, invented the Morse Telegraph, which would quickly establish itself as the world’s most widely used means of communication. Almost thirty years later, exactly Telegraph anyone who suffers the worst consequences from this solar storm when it collapses due to electromagnetic interference He came to burn the cables of the lines carrying the signal. First time, the world was practically uncommunicativeThe impact on activities and the economy was significant.
is considered to be. carrington incident (named after the discoverer) Largest solar storm recorded in the last 500 yearsand its impact on early wired communication systems taught us how vulnerable we are to such events.
and ask ourselves what if something similar happens today.
similar but different
both sunlight as coronal mass ejections (CME) they contain a huge energy release from the sun surface, largest explosive events observable in our solar system. Although they are different, they occur at the same time many times, as in the Carrington case.
We can say that they are as different as lightning bolts and have the same origin as them. The flash is like a flash of lightning, a flash traveling at the speed of light takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds to be seen by the ground observer.. Its energy can affect the upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere, where radio waves are emitted and, as a result, communication can be disrupted or interrupted.
In its place, CME involves removal of coronal material, The outermost part of the solar atmosphere consists of plasma (gases with electrically charged particles) at extremely high temperatures, close to 2 million degrees Celsius, more than three hundred times the temperature of the Sun’s surface.
Therefore, it is a gigantic balloon made up of millions of tons of plasma thrown into space. Travels at speeds between 500 km/h and 2,500 km/hY if they encounter a planet or a spaceship in their orbit, they can affect their magnetic fields, their technology, or the living things within them..
Thanks to the magnetosphere, we still have an atmosphere!
this CME is common and it can take up to three days for them to reach Earth. Fortunately we have an atmosphere protecting us from the most harmful effects of radiation, and with a magnetosphere produced by the Earth’s internal magnetic field, keeping us safe almost all solar plasma deflects it into space.
Without the magnetosphere, the persistent influence of wind and solar particles can sweep the atmosphere, so its importance is clear. just look what’s up Anthema planet loses its thin atmosphere at a rate of 100 grams per second, being swept away by the solar wind. This planet lost its magnetosphere 4.2 billion years ago, exposing the Martian atmosphere (as thick as Earth’s but mostly carbon dioxide) to the solar wind that almost completely destroyed it.
Without the magnetic field, our planet’s atmosphere, like life as we know it, would be very different.
What will the space weather be like in the coming days?
On July 23, 2012, Earth avoided a coronal mass ejection similar to the Carrington event of 1859 for only 9 days. If this solar storm had occurred a week ago, disaster would be biblical and we would still be trying to fix the affected systems. According to studies, it would cost about $2.6 billion to replace the damaged electrical system in the United States alone and would take at least 4 years.
“space weather” anyone “space weather” is he The study of the physical conditions of the Sun, the interplanetary medium, the geomagnetic field and the Earth’s atmosphere and their interactionsExtreme events may affect the reliability and performance of communications networks, GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation, electrical power networks, or put the health of people flying in space or aircraft in the subpolar or arctic regions. And in a world highly dependent on satellites, power and communication, Space weather has become a national security issue for many countries.
For this, just as we do in rain and storms, several countries or their consortiums have Space Weather Prediction Centers or research institutes where simulations are made and predictions are made showing when a CME will reach Earth, and The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) have special “Space Weather” programs.. Based on these forecasts, alerts are prepared so that decision makers in electricity companies, airlines, communication companies and utilities can take mitigation measures.
What if it happens again?
Imagine a catastrophic solar storm occurs in a context such as: an extremely hot summer If the power supply fails, millions of people will be deprived of cooling and communication.
There would be no electricity for the storage and distribution of food and water. Sanitary and health services did not respond adequately. Banking operations will be interrupted, followed by a global trade collapse. Navigation aids such as GPS will no longer work and many activities that depend on satellite information will cease to serve immediately and it will be impossible to restore functionality for several years due to a series of collisions between satellites.
It is impossible to imagine a world without electricity and internet today… but we are at risk of experiencing it at any moment.
The world closes again and an event of these features would take us back decades as a civilizationin the best condition.
In this Russian roulette we’ve been playing with the Sun for millions of years, The probability of a destructive solar storm hitting the Earth in 10 years is 12%.. That’s why it’s important to prepare contingency plans: The least anticipated and most feared disaster can come at any time.
Reference article: https://www.tiempo.com/noticias/ciencia/tormenta-solar-que-poder-acabar-con-la-civilizacion.html
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Environment department contact address:crisclimatica@prensaiberica.es
Source: Informacion
