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Solar storms may wreak havoc on Earth in 2013: Scientists
The intensity of solar storms is expected to peak in 2013 and may devastate critical infrastructure like satellite communications, navigation systems and electrical transmission equipment, a top scientist has warned. Kathryn Sullivan, assistant secretary of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said countries should prepare for “potentially devastating effects” from solar storms which are caused by massive explosions on the sun.
Solar storms, according to scientists, release particles that can temporarily disable or permanently destroy fragile computer circuits, the Daily Mail reported.
Dr Sullivan, a former NASA astronaut who in 1984 became the first woman to walk in space, told a UN weather conference in Geneva that “it is not a question of if, but really a matter of when a major solar event could hit our planet”. She is not the only expert to issue a warning about the threat posed by solar storms. In February, astronomers warned that mankind is now more vulnerable to such an event than at any time in history — and that the planet should prepare for a global Hurricane Katrina-style disaster.
A massive solar eruption, they said, would send waves of radiation and charged particles to Earth, damaging satellite systems used for synchronising computers, airline navigation and phone networks. If the storm is powerful enough it could even crash stock markets and cause power cuts that last weeks or months, experts told the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The chances of a disruption from space are getting stronger because the sun is entering the most active period of its 11 to 12-year natural cycle. The world got a taster of the sun’s explosive power in February when the strongest solar eruption in five years sent a torrent of charged plasma hurtling towards the world at 580 miles per second. The storm created spectacular aurorae and disrupted radio communications.
Space storms are not new. The first major solar flare was recorded by British astronomer Richard Carrington in 1859. Other solar geomagnetic storms have been observed in recent decades. According to NASA, one huge solar flare in 1972 cut off long-distance telephone communication in the mid-western state of Illinois. Another similar flare in 1989 ‘provoked geomagnetic storms that disrupted electric power transmission’ and caused blackouts across the Canadian province of Quebec, the US space agency said.
Explosive Solar Eruption May 10th
NASA issues warning of solar superstorm 2012: One billion could die
Could a superstorm generated by the sun destroy civilization as we know it in 2012?
No less than NASA thinks it’s a distinct possibility. In a remarkable move the normally conservative US space agency has taken the extraordinary step of warning the world.
The headlines reverberating around the world speak volumes: ‘Leaks discovered in Earth’s magnetic field,’ Solar storms to wreak havoc,’ ‘The end of life as we know it,’ ‘Magnetic shift to cause global superstorms.’
NASA and the European Space Agency say yes.
2012 and the rising specter of doom
Among all the countries with exposure to the solar devastation, the United States is the most susceptible. Read more…
Terrifying scientific discovery: Strange emissions by sun are suddenly mutating matter…
The angry sun
This goes with another article that was posted 2 months ago.
For months mounting fear has driven researchers to wring their hands over the approaching solar storms. Some have predicted devastating solar tsunamis that could wipe away our advanced technology, others voiced dire warnings that violent explosions on the surface of the sun could reach out to Earth, breach our magnetic field, and expose billions to high intensity X-rays and other deadly forms of cancer-causing radiation.
Now evidence has surfaced that something potentially more dangerous is happening deep within the hidden core of our life-giving star: never-before-seen particles—or some mysterious force—is being shot out from the sun and it’s hitting Earth.
Whatever it is, the evidence suggests it’s affecting all matter.
Strange and unknown
Alarmed physicists first became aware of this threat over the past several years. Initially dismissed as an anomaly, now frantic scientists are shooting e-mails back and forth to colleagues across the world attempting to grasp exactly Read more…
Solar Storms Season Heating Up
Sunspots — cooler regions fraught with intense magnetic fields — now regularly dot the surface of the sun, and the star has unleashed several powerful flares in recent months, including a Feb. 14 blast that was the most powerful outburst in more than four years. All signs suggest that the sun has shaken itself out of its slumber, researchers say. After three years in a deep solar sleep of historic proportions, the sun is starting to wake up.
In 2008, the sun plunged into its least active state in nearly a century. Sunspots all but vanished, solar flares subsided and the star was eerily quiet. Quiet spells on the sun are nothing new. They come along every 11 years or so, as part of the sun’s natural activity cycle. But this latest solar minimum lasted longer than usual, prompting some researchers to wonder if it would ever end.
This year has started off with a bang, as sunspots are crackling with activity. Earth-orbiting satellites have detected Read more…
Solar Activity Heats Up
April 14, 2011: If you’ve ever stood in front of a hot stove, watching a pot of water and waiting impatiently for it to boil, you know what it feels like to be a solar physicist.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded this X1.5-class solar flare on March 9, 2011. [movie]
Back in 2008, the solar cycle plunged into the deepest minimum in nearly a century. Sunspots all but vanished, solar flares subsided, and the sun was eerily quiet.
“Ever since, we’ve been waiting for solar activity to pick up,” says Richard Fisher, head of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. “It’s been three long years.”
Quiet spells on the sun are nothing new. They come along every 11 years or so—it’s a natural part of the solar cycle. This particular solar minimum, however, was lasting longer than usual, prompting some researchers to wonder if it would ever end.
News flash: The pot is starting to boil. “Finally,” says Fisher, “we are beginning to see some action.”
As 2011 unfolds, sunspots have returned and they are crackling with activity. On February 15th and again on March 9th, Earth orbiting satellites detected a pair of “X-class” solar flares–the most powerful kind of x-ray flare. The last such eruption occurred back in December 2006.
Another eruption on March 7th hurled a billion-ton cloud of plasma away from the sun at five million mph (2200 km/s). The rapidly expanding cloud wasn’t aimed directly at Earth, but it did deliver a glancing blow to our planet’s magnetic field. The off-center impact on March 10th was enough to send Northern Lights spilling over the Canadian border into US states such as Read more…
G2-Geomagnetic Storm / Solar Watch April 8th 2011
Huge Coronal Mass Ejection behind the Sun
If we were in the path of this CME, it would have been very bad.
The STEREO (Ahead) spacecraft caught this bright, substantial coronal mass ejection blast that emerged from the far side of the Sun, out of direct view from Earth (Mar. 21, 2011). Because it was from the far side (from Earth perspective), none of the ejected particle cloud was headed towards Earth. When that active region rotates around again, we will see if its potential power for generating solar storms remains as strong.
Powerful sunspot emerges, extreme UV radiation detected
(TheWeatherSpace.com) — A sunspot is emerging around the southeastern limb of the Sun and it is a powerful one at that.
Labeled 1176, this sunspot may have been old sunspot 1165 when it was last seen in early March on the southwestern limb of the Sun.
Since then it has rotated to the far side of the Sun and it looks as if it was busy doing so. This sunspot will have the power to generate large solar flares for the next couple weeks as it crosses the Earth facing side of the Sun.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has recorded very high levels of UV radiation from this sunspot, a clear signal to unsettled times ahead for it and the Earth should it blast a solar flare this way.
“If this puts a flare in this direction you can bet on more powerful earthquakes in the world,” TheWeatherSpace.com Senior Meteorologist Kevin Martin said. “We’ve been quiet and that is not a coincidence.”
Moon at Maximum Traction During Latest Earthquake Clusters
The moon’s gravitational impact on the earth, especially between February and April this year, coincides with the latest cluster of major earthquakes.
(13th March 2011) Many astronomers and climate scientists studying the relationship of the moon with the orbits of the earth and sun, have noted that lunar perigree can coincide with major tectonic activity.
Lunar perigree is when the moon’s orbit is closest to the earth, as on 19th March 2011, but a proxigean cycle is even stronger.
This occurs when the moon is closest in orbit to the Earth, (this year between March 18th and 21st), and also in its new or full Moon phase.
Present proxigean cycle has maximum effect
This proxigean cycle is when the moon Read more…
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