Science You have 12 hours....

[Debi]

http://news.yahoo.com/earth-will-only-have-12-hours-to-prepare-for-081651736.html

Trains will be disrupted, power will go out, satellite signals will go wonky - that’s what we have to look forward to when the sun next has a melt down, and we’re unlikely to get more than 12 hours warning.

In a new government document, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills has laid out its Space Weather Preparedness Strategy, outlining the risks of unsettled space weather as well as what it plans to do about them.

The document explains that the worst case scenario is a ‘coronal mass ejection’ - huge eruptions on the sun which cause parts of its corona to detach. The corona is the pearly glow around the sun that you can only usually see during a total solar eclipse, made up of plasma and rarefied gases.

The worst case scenario is based on the Carrington event of 1859, which caused solar-flare related x-rays and radiation storms. In 2015, a similar event could cause the national grid to fail, satellite operations to shut down, increased radiation on flights and upset to electronic systems.

The report suggests that there are three things the country needs to do to prepare for such an event: improve alerts and warnings, update power and communication infrastructure with failsafe backups and have a plan in place to deal with the effects should they come to pass.

As for you: the advice from the government is to prepare yourself for a solar event just as you would for any other natural hazards like floods and storms.
____________________________________________________________

If you heard the warning....You have 12 hours to prepare................what steps would you take?

 

[Cashcleaner]

Let's bear in mind that the article highlights a worst-case scenario. Still, preparation is always a good thing and it's good to see a strategy being developed to deal with such an event. At the end of the day, simply due to the fundamental physics involved, a major flare or CME is gonna cause damage no matter how well we shield and insulate our grid is, as well as ours various distribution and generation centres.

Luckily, our observations all show the Sun is actually experiencing lower activity than usual, and this will likely continue for several more years.

 

[Debi]

I've always heard putting electronics into a microwave acts as a Faraday box and protects them. Any truth in that?

 

[Cashcleaner]

^ I don't know if it's been properly tested, but it certainly sounds like it would to me. However, you would need to ground the unit so the energy has a safe path through which to discharge.

 

[The Doctor]

I've always heard putting electronics into a microwave acts as a Faraday box and protects them. Any truth in that?

I am skeptical that a CME would permanently damage electronics within the Earth's magnetosphere. Satellites are certainly at risk of damage due to their position. Breakers at power substations might possibly trip, cutting off power to some areas, but I do not think that Faraday shielding would be necessary for anything.

 

[Cashcleaner]

I am skeptical that a CME would permanently damage electronics within the Earth's magnetosphere. Satellites are certainly at risk of damage due to their position. Breakers at power substations might possibly trip, cutting off power to some areas, but I do not think that Faraday shielding would be necessary for anything.

The Carington Event of 1859 certainly did s number on many telegraph systems and a few early electrical grids when it occurred, but for the most part I agree that today's systems are a lot more resilient than those old ones. Also, we have redundancies in place to cover any potential faults that might occur if a particularly bad CME hits.