Silent smartphones, black TV screens, broken, defrosted food supplies. And on top of that, the paralysis of hospitals, the Egyptian darkness on the streets, the industry being shut down in an instant and the inevitable, in such situations, a growing panic. We are only one step away from the destruction of civilization – the whim of the Sun.
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RCB messagesregularly sent to our telephones, they warn against violent weather phenomena. From time to time we are threatened by gusty winds, heavy rains or snowfall.
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The vagaries of weather can effectively hinder and disrupt our lives, but it is worth remembering that the weather can have more than an earthly dimension. It is just as important for us as the phenomena occurring in the Earth’s atmosphere space weather.
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It is shaped by our closest star, the Sun. It is its closeness – to the partnership with the magnetosphere happily protecting the Earth – that allows life to develop on the Earth, but a sunny, weather anomaly can quickly end this life.
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Coronal mass ejection
It might seem that the Sun is unchanging – as it was 10 years ago, it is shining today and will continue to shine in the years to come. These are only appearances, because the activity of our star grows and decreases in approximately 11-year cycles. During this time, the total value of radiation emitted by the Sun changes by about 0.1%. Seemingly this is not much, but it is enough for the changes to be felt on Earth.
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The solar cycle affects, among others to fluctuations in the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere (by about 0.1 K) and fluctuations in the concentration of atmospheric ozone. These changes, although recorded on Earth, are in no way dangerous. Much more dangerous are the phenomena whose occurrence, although related to the phases of the solar cycle, is difficult to predict. It is about coronal mass ejection (CME).
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Cosmic sterilization
They occur in the corona around the Sun and consist of a sudden ejection of giant clouds of plasma into space. Plasma is thrown in random directions – also towards the Earth.
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We owe weaker, fairly common outbursts to analogue radio and auroras. The stronger ones can treat us planetarny blackout, frying transformers of the power grid. They can also kill the crew of a spacecraft that is not protected by the Earth’s magnetosphere.
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The strongest – very unlikely but statistically inconceivable – will sterilize the planet.
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The sun breaks the telegraphs
The events of 1859 herald the possibilities of our Sun. Then, about 18 hours after observing a coronal mass ejection, its stream reached our planet. In many regions, it turned night into day, causing the aurorae so bright that the sleeping people woke up convinced that morning was coming.
The plasma jet was effective, but – at that time – relatively harmless, because it had nothing to damage. The forward of modernity was only the telegraph network, and it was it that was hit the hardest – the cameras started sprinkling sparks, shocking the staff and causing local fires, and the magnetic pulse was so strong that electricity was flowing in power lines, even those without power.
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Blackout as apocalypse
It is difficult to imagine the effects such an anomaly would have on the modern world. The events in Canada on March 13, 1989, when a coronal mass ejection (but incomparably smaller than in 1859) deprive millions of people of power for many hours provide a picture.
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Telegraph that saves messages on perforated tape
If today the Sun threw a plasma cloud in our direction comparable to that from 1.5 century ago, it could provide us with a reality known from post-apocalyptic films and video games. A global failure of the transmission network and massive damage to electronic devices would mean the implementation of one of the most catastrophic scenarios and a civilization collapse.
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Not all would be affected to the same extent. Probably for the best the army is protected against the described threatfearing not so much the sun as the electromagnetic impulse accompanying the explosions of atomic bombs and the use of electromagnetic weapons.
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Infrastructure designers are also aware of the risks and try – as far as possible and feasible – to secure its critical elements, and in places of special importance to enable emergency local electricity production.
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Solar Dynamics Observatory
Space Guardians
Time in the form of several hours to disconnect and secure the most important devices, and save at least a part of the power grid, are also provided by various research programs, such as the SOHO probe constantly observing its surface.
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Located nearby the libration point L1 of the Earth – Sun system – the apparatus allows for research related to the phenomena occurring on the surface of the Sun, the solar wind and the influence of cosmic weather on our planet. In addition to SOHO, the activity of the Sun is constantly monitored by the Solar Dynamics Observatory – a space observatory that deals with changes in solar activity.
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A pop culture vision of cosmic annihilation it usually focuses on large asteroidsthat may be on a collision course with Earth. The actual doom may look much less glamorous. It is enough for the sun to remove the plug from the contact.
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