Solar Storm Surge
Posted by Neil Smith | Emerging Risk on Thursday 24 February 2011, 12:33PM Share
Last week three solar flares, including the largest in four years, erupted in the direction of the Earth.
These flares can disrupt technology and communications on Earth. However, far from being a one off, such occurrences may be a sign of things to come as we head towards a period of increased solar activity.
Solar flares and other forms of “space weather” are not new phenomena. However, what has changed is the potential impact of space weather on earth – we live in an increasingly interconnected and digitised world and it is this dependency on technology that makes us most susceptible to space weather. Solar flares, or more accurately coronal mass ejections, unleash waves of charged particles, which cause geomagnetic storms when they hit the earth’s magnetic field. These storms can seriously disrupt power grids and communications systems.
This is particularly timely as the sun moves through periodical cycles of activity and we’re currently moving towards a period of high activity with the “solar max” predicted around 2013/14. Although solar activity in this cycle may not be as high as in some cycles in the past, we have never before been so dependent on interconnected technologies and systems across the world. It is no surprise that Governments are looking seriously at the issue of space weather. Yesterday the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Professor Sir John Beddington, warned that a perfect solar storm could cause more than £1.2 trillion of damage to the Earth’s communication systems.
Last week’s solar flares may not have caused widespread disruption, but did affect communications in parts of Asia. Now is not the time for complacency.
For more information on potential impact of space weather, please refer to http://www.lloyds.com/News-and-Insight/360-Risk-Insight/Space
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