Unchained Preppers
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Nemo on May 23, 2021, 02:19:06 PM
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Anyone notice? Reportedly getting worse.
Nemo
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/05/solar-storms-are-back-threatening-life-on-earth-as-we-know-it.html (https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/05/solar-storms-are-back-threatening-life-on-earth-as-we-know-it.html)
Solar storms are back, threatening life on Earth as we know it
Updated May 23, 2021; Posted May 22, 2021
By The Associated Press
A few days ago, millions of tons of super-heated gas shot off from the surface of the sun and hurtled 90 million miles toward Earth.
The eruption, called a coronal mass ejection, wasn’t particularly powerful on the space-weather scale, but when it hit the Earth’s magnetic field it triggered the strongest geomagnetic storm seen for years. There wasn’t much disruption this time — few people probably even knew it happened — but it served as a reminder the sun has woken from a yearslong slumber.
While invisible and harmless to anyone on the Earth’s surface, the geomagnetic waves unleashed by solar storms can cripple power grids, jam radio communications, bathe airline crews in dangerous levels of radiation and knock critical satellites off kilter. The sun began a new 11-year cycle last year and as it reaches its peak in 2025 the specter of powerful space weather creating havoc for humans grows, threatening chaos in a world that has become ever more reliant on technology since the last big storms hit 17 years ago. A recent study suggested hardening the grid could lead to $27 billion worth of benefits to the U.S. power industry.
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There's been some mid-level solar flares in the past week, but nothing extraordinary. In fact there was a minor one this morning. I compare these CME and solar flare predictions to the weather forecasters winter storm predictions. Yup, sometimes we get blasted, but mostly it's much to do about nothing. The solar emissions do help with HF radio propagation, so that's a good thing.
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Didn't we hear predictions that the sun was going into a quiet phase, a "Maunder Minimum"?
And would or would this not mean fewer "sun spots"?
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Well the sun is in sunspot cycle 25, which started in December, 2019, and we're on the upswing of the 11 year cycle. NASA space weather forecasters are predicting a cycle like #24, but with a slight increase in sunspot activity. So, at this point, it seems that a Maunder Minimum is not in our immediate future.
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Supposed to be a G2 impact on the 26th.
https://www.spaceweather.com/ (https://www.spaceweather.com/)
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Personally, I don't get too concerned until it's an X-class emission. For those folks interested in solar storms, I recommend William Forstchen's 48 Hours, it's not his best work, but it's entertaining enough. :zombie1: