This most extreme level can cause complete HF (high frequency) radio blackouts on the entire sunlit side of the Earth, lasting for a number of hours.
So, is that really it? A HF radio blackout? I can’t imagine most of us would even notice if HF were disrupted. I don’t know the physics involved, but if VHF/UHF were hit it would be a much bigger problem.
The carrington event knocked out telegraphs all over the world in the 1800s.
That’s the most powerful geomagnetic storm on record. It induced so much current in the telegraph wires that they literally melted.
In the 1800s that wasn’t a huge deal. But if it happened today, billions of dollars of electrical infrastructure could be rendered useless, and stockpiles of replacements are already non existent. It would take years to recover.
But this is not that strong of a storm, so I doubt it’ll do anything but cause some pretty lights and maybe ground a few flights due to communications issues.
Planes wouldn’t just fall out of the sky anyways lmao. Even if planes lost communications completely they are still operational flying machines. It would just be very difficult to coordinate planes landing at that point. I don’t know about the protocols, but I’m sure there exist failsafes to coordinate air traffic in the event of radio communication loss.
It would be a bit more serious than a loss of communication. The electronics in the plane would be completely melted. Including the ones responsible for controlling the plane.
Airplanes are designed to withstand the current, voltage, and EMP effects of lightning strikes, whose local fields are several orders of magnitude more powerful than anything the sun has ever thrown at the earth.
Any solar-originated pulse strong enough to “completely melt” any electronics in the plane will kill everyone and everything on the daylight-side of the planet, and probably strip the entire atmosphere.
Why and how would the electronics in an airplane be melted? Airplanes are naturally a Faraday cage, and all the components are going to be EMF shielded anyways.
The only thing an airplane would need to worry about with a solar storm is the increase in radiation exposure, and even then it’s only relevant for the Flight crew who have limits on how much radiation they can be exposed to per OSHA.
That’s not how earlths magnetic field induced current works…
The conductors on a plane are short, the induced current is tiny. Significant currents are produced in long conductors (transmission wires). Severely damaging the infrastructure they connect to, and potentially themselves.
More scientific source on space.com:
https://www.space.com/aurora-alert-solar-flare-eruption-cannibal-cme-november-30-december-1
So, is that really it? A HF radio blackout? I can’t imagine most of us would even notice if HF were disrupted. I don’t know the physics involved, but if VHF/UHF were hit it would be a much bigger problem.
The carrington event knocked out telegraphs all over the world in the 1800s.
That’s the most powerful geomagnetic storm on record. It induced so much current in the telegraph wires that they literally melted.
In the 1800s that wasn’t a huge deal. But if it happened today, billions of dollars of electrical infrastructure could be rendered useless, and stockpiles of replacements are already non existent. It would take years to recover.
But this is not that strong of a storm, so I doubt it’ll do anything but cause some pretty lights and maybe ground a few flights due to communications issues.
And I’m sure any affected areas and satellites will be shutdown for that period to reduce any operational risk.
So less planes falling and more planes delayed.
Same for network communications as items are routed around certain areas or via some methods like fiber vs others.
Planes wouldn’t just fall out of the sky anyways lmao. Even if planes lost communications completely they are still operational flying machines. It would just be very difficult to coordinate planes landing at that point. I don’t know about the protocols, but I’m sure there exist failsafes to coordinate air traffic in the event of radio communication loss.
It would be a bit more serious than a loss of communication. The electronics in the plane would be completely melted. Including the ones responsible for controlling the plane.
Airplanes are designed to withstand the current, voltage, and EMP effects of lightning strikes, whose local fields are several orders of magnitude more powerful than anything the sun has ever thrown at the earth.
Any solar-originated pulse strong enough to “completely melt” any electronics in the plane will kill everyone and everything on the daylight-side of the planet, and probably strip the entire atmosphere.
Why and how would the electronics in an airplane be melted? Airplanes are naturally a Faraday cage, and all the components are going to be EMF shielded anyways.
The only thing an airplane would need to worry about with a solar storm is the increase in radiation exposure, and even then it’s only relevant for the Flight crew who have limits on how much radiation they can be exposed to per OSHA.
That’s not how earlths magnetic field induced current works…
The conductors on a plane are short, the induced current is tiny. Significant currents are produced in long conductors (transmission wires). Severely damaging the infrastructure they connect to, and potentially themselves.
True and I didn’t mean to imply it. Went for the hyperbole you tend to see and did a poor job with it after all.
I edited the post to use that URL instead, thanks!
deleted by creator
@j0hn@j0hn@lemmy.world you can swap the link out, just edit the old one into the body so the context is there for anyone talking about it
also I think the bigger news story here is an increased chance of Auroras 🌌 Take a peek outside if you live somewhere northern and clear-skied