Mar 22, 2022 21:00:00

Large-scale solar storms can disrupt power grids and the Internet

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solar storm ' is a natural phenomenon in which the solar wind , which is a high-temperature plasma generated when a large-scale solar flare occurs in the sun, blows on the earth and artificial satellites. Solar storms are more likely to occur when the solar cycle becomes active, and when they are blown onto the earth, they cause great damage to the power grid and the Internet. Assistant Professor David Wallace, Director of the High Voltage Research Institute at Mississippi State University, explains how solar storms actually affect us.

A large solar storm could knock out the power grid and the internet – an electrical engineer explains how
https://theconversation.com/a-large-solar-storm-could-knock-out-the-power-grid-and-the-internet-an-electrical-engineer-explains-how-177982

On September 1, 1859, telegraph systems around the world suffered a catastrophic failure. The telegraph engineer reported mysterious phenomena such as 'I was shocked', 'The paper of the telegraph burned', and 'I was able to operate the device even with the battery removed'. There are also records that aurora borealis, which are normally found only in high latitudes in northern Canada, Northern Europe, and Russia, were observed in Colombia in South America in the evening.

The whole series of phenomena is said to be caused by a large-scale solar storm called the ' Carrington Event '. The plasma ejected from the sun is a mass of positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons. When this plasma mass reaches the earth, it interacts with the magnetic field that surrounds the earth, causing natural phenomena such as the aurora. Not only that, it also has a great impact on the electric systems on the earth.

Solar storms emit large amounts of cosmic rays into the Earth's upper atmosphere, producing carbon- 14, the radioactive isotope of carbon . Therefore, it is possible to know when a solar storm occurred in the past from the layer and content of carbon-14 in the Antarctic ice that has accumulated over many years. Studies have shown that a solar storm 'Miyake Event' that exceeds the Carrington Event occurred around 774 AD.

Around 993 AD, a solar storm of about 60% of the Miyake event occurred. Antarctic ice samples show that Carrington event-class solar storms occur on average once every 500 years.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration evaluates the strength of solar flares on the 'Geomagnetic Storms scale'. The geomagnetic storm scale has five stages from 'G1' to 'G5', and the larger the number, the larger the scale. The Carrington event will be classified as G5. At the Miyake event, the amount of carbon-14 increased was more than 10 times that of the Carrington event, so it is said that the scale was so large that it could no longer be evaluated on the geomagnetic storm scale.

And when the scale is larger than the Carrington event, solar storms can generate induced currents and destroy the electrical system on the ground. Large-scale power outages can occur when induced currents, which can exceed 100 amperes, flow into electrical components such as transformers, relays, and sensors. In 1989, Quebec, Canada, was hit by a solar storm about three times as large as the Carrington Event. The storm damaged grid transformers and left 5 million people in a nine-hour power outage.

In addition, artificial satellites orbiting the earth can fail due to induced currents caused by solar storms, which also causes failures in high-frequency communication systems and submarine cables. Especially affected is GPS, which depends on many transportation and communication devices, from automobiles to airplanes and mobile phones. Also, in today's world where the Internet has become more important than electricity, the effects of solar storms can cause community activity to stop altogether.

'It's only a matter of time before the Earth is hit by a solar storm again. A Carrington event-class storm could cause tremendous damage to telecommunications and communications systems around the world, with power outages lasting weeks. If a Miyake event-grade storm hits, it could be devastating worldwide and power outages could last for months, even if the Space Weather Forecast Center warns of space weather forecasts. , The world will only be informed for minutes to hours. '

'It's important to continue research to protect power systems from the effects of solar storms, such as installing devices to protect vulnerable equipment such as transformers, and solar storms coming,' Wallace said. Develop strategies to adjust the load at such times, which means it's important to work now to minimize the disruption of the upcoming Carrington event. ' ..