1/25/12 Space Weather vs. Power Grids

Everyone has experienced some type of weather event, be it a hurricane, blizzard, flooding, or just a high wind event, that has knocked out power for a few hours.  But there is another kind of weather event that could likely cause far more damage by wreaking havoc on our power grid infrastructure.

Earlier this week a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) was released from the storm and made its way toward Earth in what was to become the most powerful solar storm (solar energetic particle event) in six years.

During this week's storm, the proton radiation from the CME reached strong levels, the most powerful since October 2003. Proton radiation storms mostly affect astronauts and satellites, but, thankfully, NASA said the crew on board the International Space Station was not harmed, and only a few minor problems with satellites were reported.

The geomagnetic part of the storm, the part that can cause damage to power grids down here on earth, fizzle-out for the most part, causing little more than some beautiful northern lights across much of northern hemisphere. While some lights were visible across the northern United States, most of the show was predominately confined to Canada and northern Europe. However, while geomagnetic storms do cause beautiful auroras, they can also bring trouble. Some of those problems can include current surges in power lines, and interference in the broadcast of radio, TV and telephone signals. Thankfully no such problems occurred with the most recent storm.

So what's the worst that could happen? Back in 1859, a geomagnetic storm literally sent a shock wave through the telegraph system that caused wires to burn, operators got shocked, and some of their offices were even set on fire. According to a National Academy of Sciences report, if solar storms of that magnitude were to happen today it would cause widespread blackouts and seriously damage some of the grid’s most important transformers.

"There is no risk to people on Earth," explained Doug Biesecker of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center.  Just as a precaution however, some polar flights were re-routed to avoid communication lapses and exposing pilots and passengers to excessive radiation. Specifically, Delta Air Lines  redirected at least half a dozen airplanes that had originally been routed over the North Pole. Radiation levels are considered strong but not at the top of the scale. There are two higher levels of radiation on NOAA's storm scale — severe and extreme. Be that as it may, this storm is the strongest for radiation Earth has seen since May 2005.

This wont be the last solar storm though, as more are expected. "The solar cycle is increasing, and so we are going to get more storms," says University of Michigan space weather expert Tamas Gombosi. There is good news though he explains,  "Once an eruption happens on the sun, even the biggest ones, we'll have at least a day's warning."

Sources: Associated Press, NASA, Weather Channel, Sci-Tech Today, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Epoch Times, @clemthordale Twitter, kissamoose.com