It would potentially wipe out telecommunications and satellite systems, cause massive electricity grid blackouts, and cost the global economy billions of pounds
Evidence of the biggest ever solar storm 14,300 years ago has been found in ancient tree rings. Such a massive storm today on the scale of the newly discovered one would be "catastrophic" for modern technology, say scientists.
"Such super storms could permanently damage the transformers in our electricity grids, resulting in huge and widespread blackouts lasting months. They could also result in permanent damage to the satellites that we all rely on for navigation and telecommunication, leaving them unusable."They would also create severe radiation risks to astronauts." Nine such extreme solar storms – known as Miyake Events – have now been identified as having occurred over the last 15,000 years.
Study lead author Professor Edouard Bard, of the Collège de France, said: “Radiocarbon is constantly being produced in the upper atmosphere through a chain of reactions initiated by cosmic rays. Recently, scientists have found that extreme solar events including solar flares and coronal mass ejections can also create short-term bursts of energetic particles which are preserved as huge spikes in radiocarbon production occurring over the course of just a single year.
The largest, directly-observed, solar storm occurred in 1859 and is known as the Carrington Event. It caused massive disruption on Earth – destroying telegraph machines and creating a night-time aurora so bright that birds began to sing, believing the Sun had begun to rise.
Belgique Dernières Nouvelles, Belgique Actualités
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