Katrin Laas - Do Solar Storms Affect Us?
Even though most solar storms are not powerful enough to influence our everyday life, recovering from a few historically famous events could take years with today’s technology and the Internet, claims Katrin Laas, lecturer of physics at the Tallinn University School of Natural Sciences and Health.
Even though most solar storms are not powerful enough to influence our everyday life, recovering from a few historically famous events could take years with today’s technology and the Internet, claims Katrin Laas, lecturer of physics at the Tallinn University School of Natural Sciences and Health.
The Sun’s activity is monitored more intensively now than a century ago. With today’s technology, it is vital to know what is happening on the Sun. During more active periods, such as Coronal mass ejections, the Sun tends to emit more charged particle currents, UV- and X-radiation to space than during passive periods. When this flow of particles and radiation reaches the Earth, we can talk about a solar storm.
Thankfully, the magnetic field of the Earth stops most charged particles, while the atmosphere’s upper layers stop dangerous UV- and X-radiation. Generally, solar storms are not powerful enough to cause us much distress, but sometimes they are. For example, in 1989, a powerful solar storm caused a massive power outage in Quebec, Canada.
Sometimes the Sun emits such amounts of matter, the radiation and flow of particles that hits Earth is large enough to call it a super storm. The last time we were hit by a superstorm was in 1859 – also known as the Carrington Event. This event stopped the telegraph systems in Europe and North America.
Today, in the era of the Internet and technology, a geomagnetic storm of such volume would cause even more damage. Various sources have estimated that it could disrupt our communication systems, the Internet, the banking system and computers in general, GPS, air traffic, radio frequencies, etc. Even worse, it could cause another massive power outage, which would stop running water, fuel pumps, etc. The duration of the power outage caused by such a storm is thought to last from a week to even years. The economic damages are estimated to add up to trillions of dollars.
How often do such events occur? The latest super storm comparable to the Carrington Event took place on 23 July 2012. Luckily, it never hit Earth. Scientists estimate that super storms do not hit the Earth too often. At the same time, Pete Riley published an article in the Space Weather magazine, where he calculated that there is a 12% chance of such a storm hitting the Earth within the next 10 years.
Solar storms also have a prettier side to them – during these events, we can see the beautiful northern lights, also known as aurora borealis in the sky. During the Carrington Event, northern lights were seen as far south as Senegal, Mexico, Hawaii, etc.