(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

[NEWS]☛ Solar Storm could hit Earth

What would u do without electricity?

You must login or register to view this content.

You must login or register to view this content.

Get ready for a 'global Katrina': Biggest ever solar storm could cause power cuts which last for MONTHS

• Earth is overdue a solar storm as the sun enters its most active period
  

The world is overdue a ferocious 'space storm' that could knock out communications satellites, ground aircraft and trigger blackouts - causing hundreds of billions of pounds of damage, scientists say.

Astronomers today warned that mankind is now more vulnerable to a major solar storm than at any time in history - and that the planet should prepare for a global Katrina-style disaster.

A massive eruption of the sun would send waves of radiation and charged particles to Earth, damaging the satellite systems used for synchronising computers, airline navigation and phone networks.

You must login or register to view this content.
Imminent: The world got a taster of the sun's explosive power last week with the strongest solar eruption in five years (white flash, centre) sent a torrent of charged plasma hurtling towards the world. Scientists believe we are overdue a ferocious solar storm.

• If the storm is powerful enough it could even crash stock markets and cause power cuts that last weeks or months, experts told the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
  
  
• The chances of a disruption from space are getting stronger because the sun is entering the most active period of its 11 to 12-year natural cycle.
  
  
• The world got a taster of the sun's explosive power last week when the strongest solar eruption in five years sent a torrent of charged plasma hurtling towards the world at 580 miles per second.
  
  
• The storm created spectacular aurorae and disrupted radio communications.
  
  
• Professor Sir John Beddington, the government's chief scientific adviser, said: 'The issue of space weather has got to be taken seriously. We've had a relatively quiet period of space weather - but we can't expect that quiet period to continue.
  
  
• 'At the same time over that period the potential vulnerability of our systems has increased dramatically, whether it is the smart grid in our electricity systems or the ubiquitous use of GPS in just about everything we use these days.
  
  
• 'The situation has changed. We need to be thinking about the ability both to categorise and explain and give early warning when particular types of space weather are likely to occur.'
  

You must login or register to view this content.
Threat: Rio de Janeiro during a blackout in 2009. A solar storm could cause global power cuts for months, scientists have warned.

Solar storms are caused by massive explosions on the sun.

The explosions release waves of X-rays and ultraviolet radiation which smash into the Earth within minutes, disrupting radio signals and damaging the electronics of satellites.

They are followed ten to 20 minutes later by a burst of energetic particles which cause even more havoc with satellites - and then 15 to 30 hours later by supercharged plasma which collides with Earth's magnetic field.

The plasma create the aurora - or Northern Lights - and can induce electrical currents in power lines and cables.

Jane Lubchenco, head of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said: 'This is not a matter of if, it is simply a matter of when and how big.

'The last time we had a maximum in the solar cycle, about 10 years ago, the world was a very different place. Cell phones are now ubiquitous; they were certainly around but we didn't rely on them for so many different things.

'Many things that we take for granted today are so much more prone to the process of space weather than was the case in the last solar maximum.'

You must login or register to view this content.
Communications satellites would be knocked out by a solar storm, causing widespread chaos on Earth and hundreds of billions of pounds of damage.

well its meant to reach its peak by 2012 so we'll see

i think a lot of peoples lives would turn for the better if there was no electricity. People would become more social and active

Me myself, I would have to admit I would turn more social and active, and continue on my skateboarding towards coming pro, well just something that's an outdoor activity=D

Right now it easier to predict when a earthquake going to happen then a solar flare.
Also it annoying when you think something going to happen it never does. There been a couple periods where the sun super active and nothing happens.

A solar flare would make most peoples live worse off.
For starters trade with poorer nations would be crippled causing them great pain. And with western nations needing their imports etc

You get the point.
That said i believe couple nations have started plans for power grids to be designed against it.
Soo if we get a flare it could just be annoying for a couple weeks with most major services fine.

And i doubt a social flare would be able to change habits of people so quickly.

Saying that......you should resist the sun efforts to cause you pain
Free light show anywho

i would :

instead of playin Cod ... Join the army

soo now you believe the end is near? the signs of Jesus is coming

No ps3, 360 or PC :O

We will have to play board games like Twister -___-


:FU:

Emp !

It would be crazy fun to live through this lol

I'll bet the sale of electrical generators goes up.
Anyone who has experienced an extended black out knows how painful it is to live without electricity.
Lights, heating and cooling, and perishable foods are real concerns.
This type warning has come up several times in the last 20 yrs.
The biggest social concern is the amount of looting it causes and potential breakdown of police security.
If something like this was a legitmate possibilty,
You would see martial law declared in the major cities and an extended blackout would hav e devastating effects on industrialized countries.
Let's hope it doesn't happen and is just another attempt to sell news.