Solar Maximum Threatens Technological Ways of Life

As we head toward the next solar maximum next year, we can expect an increase in bad "space weather," and an increased number of related, dropped cell calls and power outages.Space weather is as influential, and sometimes devastating, to 21st-century life as ordinary terrestrial weather - because contemporary living relies heavily on high-tech systems.

NASHVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - As the Sun awakens from its deep, 11-year slumber, our super-technological society is simultaneously awakening to unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms which could significantly impact our infrastructures.

A dynamic star, the sun is always active. As we head toward the next solar maximum next year, we can expect an increase in bad "space weather," and possibly an increased number of dropped cell calls and power outages.

Space weather generally varies with an 11-year sunspot cycle. Increases in sunspots strongly affect our earth and its magnetic field by causing more solar storms: solar flares and "wind."
Solar flares hurl protons and electrons into space at almost the speed of light, and the resulting acceleration produces blasts of X-rays that also radiate into space and toward us. Both the particles and radiation can disrupt sensitive technologies here on Earth.

Ghostly Portent

"Solar wind," as scientists designate the powerful surges of charged particles that blow continually off the face of the sun, is responsible for the aurora borealis, or "northern lights." Undulating in the skies with ghostly incandescence, they are the first indication that space weather has worsened, usually with a spectacular display in Arctic regions. They are, therefore, a visible measure of how strong the solar winds are.

Space weather is as influential, and sometimes devastating, to 21st-century life as ordinary terrestrial weather - because contemporary living relies heavily on high-tech systems. Since the last solar maximum in 1990, hundreds of millions of people have come to depend on a fleet of delicate, and therefore vulnerable, satellites worth tens of billions of dollars.

Satellite controlled "smart power" grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services, internet, and emergency radio communications can all be affected and even destroyed by intense solar activity. Solar storms produce disturbances in electromagnetic fields that induce electrical current spikes in wires, make themselves felt in the form of widespread, cascading power blackouts, satellite failures and even pipeline explosions.

The storms can interfere with global positioning systems, cable television, and communications between ground controllers and satellites and airplane pilots. Radio noise from solar storms disrupts cell phone service. Damage to power grids and other communications systems in a century-class solar storm, the National Academy of Sciences warns, could be catastrophic, causing twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina.

In a worst-case scenario, the impact would be felt on interdependent infrastructures. Potable water distribution, perishable foods and medications, immediate or eventual loss of heating and air conditioning, sewage disposal, phone service, transportation, fuel re-supply etc. would all be affected.

In fact, our society is so sensitive to changes in the electromagnetic activity of the sun, that other nations have researched ways to cripple the US in war games involving similar, man-made electromagnetic surges.

Devastating Precedent

Solar storms have been recognized as a cause of technological problems on Earth since the invention of the telegraph in the early 19th century when electrical currents induced by the changing fields were so powerful through telegraph wires that batteries were not required to telegraph information and some operators were nearly electrocuted.

It was during a magnetic storm in 1940 that scientists discovered that placing wires under the ocean makes no difference. At that time, 2,600-volt surges were recorded in the under-ocean trans-Atlantic cable between Scotland and Newfoundland.

In 1972, shifting magnetic fields induced a spiked electrical current that blew up a 230,000-volt transformer at the British Columbia Hydroelectric Authority. In 1989, a solar storm plunged all of Quebec into a complete power blackout, affecting millions, and triggered a gas pipeline explosion that decimated large sections of the Trans-Siberian Railway, engulfing two passenger trains in flames and killing 500 people. In 2003, a barrage of solar flares over a two-week period knocked out two Earth-orbiting satellites and crippled instruments aboard a Mars orbiter.

The sun is Earth's life-giving star, so that even small solar events have large scale effects on modern societies that are dependent on advanced technological systems. Since much of the damage can be mitigated if managers know a storm is coming, NASA keeps a wary eye on space weather forecasting. In the meantime, we might well consider taking whatever action might be necessary to live through a prolonged power outage.

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Sonja Corbitt is a Catholic speaker, Scripture teacher and study author, and a contributing writer for Catholic Online. She is available to speak on the New Feminism, current events and your preferred theme. Visit her at www.pursuingthesummit.com for information and sample videos.

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