Horizon: Solar Storms - The Threat to Planet Earth

[JamesF]

Tomorrow, 9pm, BBC2

"Scientists predict this year will see a fit of violent activity on the sun which will propel billions of tonnes of superheated gas and pulses of energy towards Earth. In 1989 one of these solar storms, which has the power to close down modern technology, cut off the power to the Canadian city of Quebec. Horizon meets the weathermen as they try to predict what's coming and organisations like the National Grid as they prepare for the cosmic tempest."

James

[David Smith]

nice one, thanks.

[Kit-Fox]

Although a big thing is being made of this as I understand it, there are relatively few CMEs and solar storms etc that can cause a lot of trouble at ground level, most happen without causing any major headaches for ground level equipment like electricity grids etc

at least thats what i recall getting told by a few folks, is that not right?

[iwatkins]

Chance of widespread damage on the ground is low but more than possible. It has happened before and it will again. Problem is if serious damage did occur it could take a while to fix. Large substation transformers take a while to make, especially if the place that makes them doesn't have mains electricity.

Risk of damage to satellites is much higher as is the risk to air traffic, HF comms, GPS and a lot of other issues.

Cheers

Ian

[spaceboy]

WOOOHOOOO!! Got the camping stove ready for the cups of T. Hope the solar storm blows those clouds away along with those sub stations. Better put a petrol gen on the list of must gets ready to power the mount.

[iwatkins]

The risks are often mocked but possible effects are taken very seriously by those who plan for incident management.

If a whole Western country went without mains electricity for a month it is thought it would basically collapse. Remember, no mains means not a lot of other things. E.g. No pumped mains water. No oil being refined to fuels. Which means no food deliveries etc. and so it goes on....

Doom and gloom aside will be an interesting programme.

Cheers

Ian

[Kit-Fox]

dont misunderstand, I know they happen & can affect ground based equipment, just that its usually rare for it to do so was my understanding.

And of course when it does happen its usually quite significant as no one ever thought to protect against such threats.

It just you hear a lot of stuff in the 'media' which usually contains a lot of bad science & fearmongering and this is one such topic especially when you factor in all the fools who believe we're going to die as its 2012. Again not that I expect this programme about it to be full of bad science or fearmongering, but i'm sure we all know where it does come from

[George]

I think the bigger risk with CME's is the damage to satellites etc, I think you would be surprised on our reliance to satellites these days.

Think will be worth watching

[Helen]

Yes, as an example, my understanding is that if the GPS system goes down then that affects the financial markets very badly as all transactions are logged using GPS.

Helen

[spaceboy]

The risks are often mocked but possible effects are taken very seriously by those who plan for incident management.

If a whole Western country went without mains electricity for a month it is thought it would basically collapse. Remember, no mains means not a lot of other things. E.g. No pumped mains water. No oil being refined to fuels. Which means no food deliveries etc. and so it goes on....

Doom and gloom aside will be an interesting programme.

Cheers

Ian

I know of plenty of people that live with out clean running water, supermarkets, electricity and roofs over their heads yet we show no real concerns for them when we sit down for a microwave meal wondering what mod con we are going to buy next to make our lives easier. I agree if there was such an event that we were left without power most of the Western world would be up the creek with out a paddle. The only ones who will be in with a chance are the Bear Grylls fans out there who never miss an episode

[JB80]

I like Bear Grylls:D

I don't see satellites as being too much of the problem because out of all the people who need to be concerned about space weather it is the satellite engineers and they are years in advance of everyone else. Sure it might knock some older ones out but the important ones are well protected.

This article may or may not probably explains it better than I can.

Guide to solar weather's effect on satellites | Tech Talk | Intelsat

I also know for a fact that the Galileo gnss guys are not concerned in the slightest.

ESA - Navigation - Navigation satellites contend with stormy Sun

The way I look at it the major issues will be the Earth power grid and even then I would say these days there is little excuse not to be prepared either.

Anyway, I will be watching this show with interest. Thanks for the heads up.

[Pug]

I also read (in 'Chasing the Sun' by Richard Cohen) that during increases in solar activity there are increases in civil disobedience, French revolution, boxer uprising and now perhaps what we've seen happening in the middle east and in the occupy movment. Possibly/probably coincidence but interesting.....

[sytra]

I'm sure i read somewhere that IF any major damage was caused on the ground, to the substations especially it could take years to repair all the damage caused due to the fact that all subs are custom built.