Why Solar Storms Occur? How To Protect Internet, Life On Earth From Solar Storms

Today, our world cannot function without technology -- whether it¡¯s something as basic as electricity or something as impactful as the internet. Businesses across the world use these on a daily basis to get work done.

NASA

Also Read: Powerful Solar Storm Today Could Disrupt Earth's Satellite Communications

However, what if our world goes into a complete blackout with no power, no internet or no sort of digital networking whatsoever. It sounds like a scary dystopian future no one wants to be a part of, but the worst part is, this could happen, and we don¡¯t know when. What would cause this, you ask? Solar storms.

What are solar storms?

Solar Storms occur when the sun is at its peak solar activity. The sun shoots out boiling hot plasma in the form of solar flares and winds. This includes huge bursts of charged particles that are released from the sun¡¯s atmosphere straight into space.

These affect Earth¡¯s magnetosphere that produces vibrant auroras around regions where auroras are not normally seen.

These huge bursts of charged particles could cause devastating interference with electronics, rendering them completely unusable.

NASA

Why do they occur?

According to NASA, the Sun, much like Earth, is going through its own kinds of activities, however, since it¡¯s the star of our solar system, activities on it have a massive impact on all the planets, including Earth. Solar storms are a result of solar activities that occur on the sun¡¯s surface.

This can be in the form of coronal mass ejections -- large clouds of plasma and magnetic field that erupt from the sun, solar flares -- an intense burst of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots, or high-speed solar wind streams coming from areas on the sun known as coronal holes.

The activity picks up when the Sun goes through an active solar cycle (which changes every 11 years) and it just began a new one last year in November, indicating we could soon experience more solar activity for the next few years.

Also Read: Sun Has Begun A New Solar Weather Cycle: Here¡¯s What It Means

The damage solar storms can cause

Solar storms often cause outages in power and communications, as when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth¡¯s magnetosphere and can destroy the electronics on our planet due to the overwhelming bombardment of charged particles.

For humans on Earth, it poses no major risk as we¡¯re protected by our atmosphere. However, astronauts in space aren¡¯t that lucky. Charged particles from solar winds travelling towards Earth increase their chances of soaking in harmful radiation. It also increases the chances of causing damage to their spacecraft.

NASA

Very little is known about the Sun and its storms

Even today, humans know very little about the Sun and its activities, even less about solar storms since they¡¯re such a rare phenomenon. Earth has records of only a handful of solar storms, and very few of them have truly shown what kind of devastation it can cause to the electric infrastructure.

According to NASA, one solar storm that occurred on September 2, 1859, completely disrupted the telegraph service, while also shocking the individuals on the ends of the telegraph lines. This was also a time when electricity was not very common across the world.

Also Read: Solar Storms Seen In 1582 Could Hit Earth Again And Cause Damage, Warn Scientists

The most recent one shows us a dark glimpse of what could go wrong in a massive solar storm. On March 13, 1989, the Hydro-Qu¨¦bec power network in Canada went down due to geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) which were a result of a coronal mass ejection from the Sun on March 9, 1989.

The currents destroyed a transformer and led to a general blackout that lasted more than 9 hours, affecting over 6 million people.

However, due to the rarity of this occurrence, we don't know the kind of impact it can have in today's modern world, which makes it difficult for us to be prepared for what's in store for us.

How can Earth stay safe from solar storms?

Destruction of power grids due to solar storms could have catastrophic social and economical challenges for our planet. Hospitals won't be able to take care of the sick due to lack of power, businesses won¡¯t be able to function, resulting in an economic collapse, and humans would lose all forms of digital communication.

Experts have also highlighted that solar storms could put internet connectivity at risk too, taking us all offline. So it is important that we remain prepared for solar storms.

Also Read: Massive Solar Storms May Shutdown Internet Around The World, Fears Expert

Researchers are sending probes to the star of our solar system to study its anomalies and understand a pattern of solar storms and maybe predict its occurrence beforehand so when the charged particles do approach Earth, the electrical grids are shut to not overwhelm them and prevent them from destruction.

Unsplash

Stronger hardware to withstand solar storms

Rob Manning, vice president for transmission at the Electric Power Research Institute, in a statement with NBCNews said that innovators are thinking ahead, to make sure electrical hardware doesn't go down easily.

Engineers are also creating capacitor banks, which could essentially act like batteries -- absorb and dissipate excess electricity. Some are even working on installing electricity-dampening devices, more commonly known as Faraday cages, that would act like force fields that can surround and protect critical pieces of equipment.

The Department of Electricity in the US is working on developing better flywheels that can spin faster or slower depending on their charge -- physically drain excess electricity off the grid, turning the sun¡¯s electrons into movement and heat. However, according to Manning, none of these solutions are perfect.

He explains, ¡°There are some devices that will ground that current out and remove it from the system, but it creates some unintended consequences. It¡¯s like taking a drug that fixes a problem you might have, but it has unintended side effects.¡±

Also Read: Sun Released Biggest Solar Flare In Four Years, Caused Brief Radio Blackout On Earth

NASA

Prevention is still the best cure

Experts believe that the best way to protect against solar storms is to predict or forecast them in advance and shut down the grid before it hits.

Researchers are working to improve these forecasts to offer warnings a few hours in advance. One of the ways is through the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) that offers important data about the timing and speed of solar bursts.

Even the Parker Solar Probe, that¡¯s on its journey to study the Sun, will offer data in never-before-seen detail, offering a new perspective about how the sun¡¯s atmosphere heats up to release coronal mass ejections.

For more cool explainers and science news, keep visiting Indiatimes.com and let us know if you're worried about solar storms disrupting internet and human life here on earth.