Science
Solar Storms and their consequences: this is what they can cause on Earth
As the Sun’s cycle nears its inevitable end, Solar Storms become ever more constant. Here’s what they are and how they could affect technology on Earth.
In fiction, it isn’t that uncommon to hear about a catastrophic situation in which the Earth is hit by one or several Solar Storms, a real life phenomenon that does indeed exist and has caused several problems to our Little Blue Dot, but so far none as globally devastating as they are pictured in sci-fi and such. We’ve seen it destroy all technology, causing society to break down, and even completely incinerating the surface of the Earth… but how true is any of this really? What could Solar Storms actually do, and how could they affect us in the future?
What are solar storms and how do they affect the Earth?
A solar storm occurs when the Sun emits an enormous amount of charged particles of electromagnetic radiation. When they come into contact with the Earth’s magnetic field and the Earth’s atmosphere, they can cause some power outages, interference with radio waves and satellites, or problems with GPS. They are usually generated on the surface of the Sun and cause coronal mass ejections, solar flares and solar winds.
A solar flare is not the same as a coronal mass ejection: in the first case, they are explosions of energy that give way to electromagnetic radiation; in the second, plasma and magnetic fields are released. To date, no solar storm so powerful that it has severely damaged global communications has been recorded. “If they’re directed at Earth,” NASA explains, “such flares and associated CMEs can create long lasting radiation storms that can harm satellites, communications systems, and even ground-based technologies and power grids.”
Last August 7, a powerful solar storm affected communications in the United States. Physicist Keith Strong posted the following on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter: “The X1.5 Flare caused an R3 (strong) radio blackout event on the daylit side of the Earth (most of the US and Canada and the Pacific Ocean). Frequencies below 5Mhz were most affected and navigation signals degraded..”
According to a Lancaster University study, in the worst case solar storms can also cause errors on train tracks or change train traffic lights from red to green. As in the case of earthquakes, there is a scale for classifying them, from the least to the most intense: class B is the weakest, followed by C and M. The most powerful is class X.
The Sun’s cycle lasts approximately 11 years. When it is completed, “the Sun’s magnetic field completely flips. This means that the Sun’s north and south poles switch places. Then it takes about another 11 years for the Sun’s north and south poles to flip back again,” explains NASA.