2012-2013 Solar Storms

[Mad_Aussie]

This has been discussed a bit on other threads, but there's more and more in the news about it now. The UK and the US are going to start rolling blackouts in expectation of a major solar flare.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/controlled-power-cuts-likely-as-sun-storm-threatens-national-grid-2296748.html


Officials in Britain and the United States are preparing to make controlled power cuts to their national electricity supplies in response to a warning of a possible powerful solar storm hitting the Earth. In an interview with The Independent, Thomas Bogdan, director of the US Space Weather Prediction Centre, said that controlled power "outages" will protect the National Electricity Grids against damage which could take months or even years to repair should a large solar storm collide with the Earth without any precautions being taken.

Hope everyone has a decent generator at home.

[magic1]

you are a clown.

[YOUR MATE]

I'm buying shares in all the major tin foil producers due to this guy.

[Jazza]

Does this mean you guys don't believe in solar storms??
Pretty cool they're able to forecast/see them imo!

[Slip_]

Quite real motherfuckers, Ripleys spec.

[Mad_Aussie]

Yeah, I forgot. Science is a conspiracy written by ghosts and wizards.

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[Ryan1080]

I'm actually quite surprised that mad_aussie hasn't gone the other way and said that a solar storm doesn't exist, and all this exercise is in fact a govt consipiracy to shut down electricity grid in order to control the population and conduct some sort of secret conspiracy business... you've changed man!

[Jais]

if there's a solar wind (that they're currently working on giant sails to capture and propel space craft) then it's perfectly reasonable that there are solar storms.

[lachlanrb20s13]

lol at people thinking its some conspiracy or something...


In 1989, a solar geomagentic storm knocked out the electricity grid across large parts of Canada. The loss cascaded across the United States and caused power problems as far away as California.

[MISS 13B]

LOL solar storms are very much legit.
They are constantly monitored as they can potentially fuck shit right up!

[magic1]

Does this mean you guys don't believe in solar storms??
Pretty cool they're able to forecast/see them imo!


LOL solar storms are very much legit.
They are constantly monitored as they can potentially fuck shit right up!

yes solar storms do exist, yes they can monitor them.

no the usa will not turn the power off

[duste]

^^ Why not?

[Yakky Bear]

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o109/metalpnuttz/1306730718776.jpg

[Dagon]

Solar storms/flares are common, regular and predictable.
Sunspot activity seems to peak every 11 years or so, and the last major storms were around the turn of the millenium, so logic follows that it's gonna start heating up fairly soon. In fact, it began a while ago (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/17/3141943.htm).

All this has been known for the last... oh, 40 years?
We're just finally seeing a government prepare for it, instead of simply reacting to it.

[MadDocker]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_maximum

Pretty interesting stuff.

[Mad_Aussie]

yes solar storms do exist, yes they can monitor them.

no the usa will not turn the power off

So... wait.
The media is lying about them turning particular power stations off?

It's a conspiracy!!!

[Phyber]

As long as this EMP or whatever doesn't stop my car, I'll be happy :)

[Mad_Aussie]

Well that's the thing, it will. You'll probably wind up with a cooked alternator or ECU.
If and when they detect a major one flare up, we'll have about 30 minutes warning before it gets to the planet. I don't know if we here in Perth would even know about it until the sky turns purple and pink, but if you hear about a big solar event incoming you'd want to be out with the spanners pulling the battery out quick smart.

[Risk10k]

I did see a mini-documentary on the consequences of said events, the UK has implemented kill switches accessed remotely to shut down power stations. Epic shit!

[Ryan1080]

Well that's the thing, it will. You'll probably wind up with a cooked alternator or ECU.
If and when they detect a major one flare up, we'll have about 30 minutes warning before it gets to the planet. I don't know if we here in Perth would even know about it until the sky turns purple and pink, but if you hear about a big solar event incoming you'd want to be out with the spanners pulling the battery out quick smart.

Curious question... how do they come up with an early warning? Do they look directly at the sun and observe what is happening? If so, by observing what is happening, they look at the light that is emitted from the sun (which from memory takes about 8 minutes to travel the distance). Question is, is the solar flare the light itself, and does it travel at the speed of light? I presume it doesn't travel that quick, as otherwise the moment we see the flare, is when we'll get hit. Interesting...

[Ryan1080]

I did see a mini-documentary on the consequences of said events, the UK has implemented kill switches accessed remotely to shut down power stations. Epic shit!

How do you keep the water pumps running in a nuclear power plant? It doesn't just take a couple of minutes to shut one down, it's a long process. 30 minutes woudln't be enough, there will be hundreds of Fukushimas everywhere...

[mischief1]

I'll will watch Stargate again and find out, if I don't have an answer I could be in another universe.

P.S. might keep ratchet spanners in the car from now on...

[Mad_Aussie]

Curious question... how do they come up with an early warning? Do they look directly at the sun and observe what is happening? If so, by observing what is happening, they look at the light that is emitted from the sun (which from memory takes about 8 minutes to travel the distance). Question is, is the solar flare the light itself, and does it travel at the speed of light? I presume it doesn't travel that quick, as otherwise the moment we see the flare, is when we'll get hit. Interesting...

I'm honestly not too sure. The 30min estimate is what NASA reckons the time is going by their website. Don't have a link to that though.

From what I understand, they know when a flare is about to go off, but I don't know how or how long the radiation takes to get to us.

Wouldn't really want to be outside when it happens either.

[crabman]

Do you work mr tinfoil or are you a tinfoil hat social commentator :P

I thought the EMP damage was only really applicable to the current able to be inducted into massive long range transmission lines. Ie if there was enough EMP to do damage to a car, we might aswell say half the planet is going to take a serious step back in time.

And the gun owners will rejoice as the zombie apocolypse beings lol

[Mad_Aussie]

Shut up, at least I can work :)

And yeah depends on the intensity of the flare, where it hits, and how long we're bathed in radiation for. They are saying that we could lose personal electronics if we take a direct enough hit.

[Slip_]

http://www.spaceweather.com/

[crabman]

I can work, doing contract pricing atm, just lack a full time position and pay :P

[Jumanji]

I'm honestly not too sure. The 30min estimate is what NASA reckons the time is going by their website. Don't have a link to that though.

From what I understand, they know when a flare is about to go off, but I don't know how or how long the radiation takes to get to us.

Wouldn't really want to be outside when it happens either.

Seeing as though you seem quite knowledgable on the subject, what are the human or biological side-effects of a solar flare that large?

[Tre-Cool]

i assume we all know what radiaton does to the cells in your body? same thing i guess. higher dose of radiation = more chances of genetic mutation.

so stand outside for a while, about time we got some X-Men.....


lol

[Slip_]

We're constantly being bombarded with the gamma radiation, passes straight though us.