This solar storm information is not intended to be alarmist, but to make you think.
The Solar SuperStorm of 1859. It happened during September 1–2, 1859 and was the largest geomagnetic storm ever recorded.
During the Thursday morning of 1-September, Richard Carrington, a 33 year old amateur astronomer from England, first observed sunspot activity that would later lead to the monumental eruption. The observations were seen using his solar telescope which projected an 11 inch diameter image on to a surface where he would sketch the large group of sunspots.
During his observations that morning he suddenly witnessed two brilliant spots of light forming within the sunspot group which rapidly grew in size, twice as bright as the sun itself. Within 5 minutes the mega flare had peaked in size and intensity, reduced back to pinpoints of light, and vanished.
Early the following morning, much of the world was witnessing a massive and tremendously bright display of the aurora, even at latitudes in the tropics. During the same time, telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed while spraying out sparks from telegraph poles and igniting widespread fires.
The telegraph system was the only high technology of that day, archaic by today’s standards, and it was brought down by an invisible force from the sun.
Today, the problem begins with the electric power grid, the essential conduit carrying the life blood of nearly all services and infrastructure that our modern society depends upon.
The way in which the grid is built in the United States (similarly elsewhere), lines stretched out overhead at distances spanning and crisscrossing nearly 200,000 miles, it acts as a giant vulnerable antenna which would easily pick up the electrical currents induced by a geomagnetic solar storm which could potentially create widespread or catastrophic problems.
The electrical currents can surge, melt, and destroy the copper windings of transformers, which are the essential interconnecting links distributed all over the grid. To make matters even more vulnerable, the utility companies have interconnected their grids together, enabling long distance distribution and control of supply and demand.
The most notable recent geomagnetic power outage took place during March 1989 when a solar storm plunged millions of people into darkness in Quebec, Canada as their power grid system failed. To put it in context, the solar superstorm of 1859 was many, many times more powerful than the 1989 storm affecting Quebec.
united-states-power-grid-ehv-transformers
EHV-transformers, at-risk capacity
At high risk today are the network of EHV transformers (Extra-High-Voltage, 345,000 volts and above) spread around the grid, which if damaged, would literally take years to replace due to their highly specialized manufacture.
The consequences of such a dire circuмstance need not be spelled out here. Leave it to your own imagination and consider your own emergency preparedness plans as we come closer to the next 11-year peak of the solar cycle.
Topic: Solar Storm of 1859 details (Read 892 times)