Scientists warn of 'Space Weather Katrina' and say U.S. is unprepared

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June 23, 2010
Scientists warn that the Earth might be vulnerable to a "space weatherKatrina," an event that could leave large parts of the U.S. withoutpower, water or access to communication. And the U.S. is unprepared forsuch a disaster.

Dr. Richard Fisher, director NASA's heliophysics division, says the sunhas an 11-year cycle and is now emerging from a quiet period.

The next phase of the cycle - the solar maximum - lasts from 2012 to2015, he said. Larger solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs)occur during this period. The largest flareups, estimated to occur every30 to 100 years, cause geomagnetic storms strong enough to damage GPSsatellites and high-voltage transformers. A report from the NationalAcademy of Sciences, Severe Space Weather Events, says the U.S. is atrisk of losing power for a significant period of time.

"It's very likely in the next 10 years that we will have some impactlike that described in the National Academy report," said Fisher."Although I don't know to what degree."

Doug Biesecker, top solar physicist at the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration (NOAA) said severe solar storms have occurredin the past. The strongest geomagnetic storm on record occurred in 1859and rendered telegraph machines useless. Another slightly smallergeomagnetic storm occurred in 1921.

"If the 1921 storm happened today, it would knock out power from Maineto Georgia," Biesecker said, "affecting 130 million people and 350transformers." Transformers, he noted, can take over a year to fix andthey are not made in the U.S….”

See:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/23/2010-06-23_scientists_warn_of_space_weather_katrina_and_say_us_is_unprepared.html


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