Analyzing data from energy industry companies is necessary to adequately study magnetic storms, but companies don’t give scientists access to their archives. About this “socialbites.ca” said the head of the near-Earth space physics laboratory of the Institute of Earth Physics. O.Yu. Schmidt RAS, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Vyacheslav Pilipenko.
“The study of space weather, especially its impact on technological systems, has long been uncertain. Much is said but little is done about it. The reason is a very specific problem: power industry companies don’t give scientists data on powerline failures for study. “They have archives dating back years. But not a single energy company, both in Russia and in the West, will ever provide such information. They believe this data will affect their economic situation. It’s the same with satellite companies. We can only learn that malfunctions have occurred when the satellite is completely cut off,” he explained.
Scientists also cannot install research equipment on power lines – this requires permission from the company, which is almost impossible to obtain.
“And it’s not just about energy systems. For example, disturbances of space weather are manifested by a sharp increase in ionospheric irregularities at high latitudes. As a result, ionospheric disturbances can be misinterpreted by radars. Since space weather works on radio waves reflected from the ionosphere, it also affects the quality of radio communications, especially in the shortwave range. As soon as the auroras start during a sub-storm, the connection is broken. GPS and GLONASS satellite navigation systems are also prone to malfunctions. There is a situation when during the American-European exercises “Trident” in the North Atlantic, satellite communications suddenly disappeared. Pilipenko wrote that all journalists were goddamn “Russian hackers”, and then it turned out to be a powerful magnetic storm,” he added.
For more information on what magnetic storms can be dangerous for and how to avoid them, see. material “socialbites.ca”.