Great-fire like solar storm could hit earth again, cause severe damage

A dystopian setup in the pandemic era would be the widespread failure of power grids, simultaneously. 

A “great fire” hovered in the sky back in 1582, causing havoc across several cities of Europe and Asia. It was an unpredictable event back then, but scientists have predicted a similar event to reoccur when the sun will enter the solar maximum of the solar cycle around 2023-2026.

In the 16th-century an eyewitness Pero Ruiz Soares described a solar storm of 1852 in these words- “A great fire appeared in the sky to the North, and lasted three nights. All that part of the sky appeared burning in fiery flames; it seemed that the sky was burning. 

Nobody remembered having seen something like that. At midnight, great fire rays arose above the castle which was dreadful and fearful. The following day, it happened the same at the same hour but it was not so great and terrifying. Everybody went to the countryside to see this great sign.” 

Scientists are studying the old accounts of the events to understand the solar weather better. This event is known to be a once-in-a-century occurrence and we are due soon.

The sun’s surface is at a state of constant flux. It undergoes several cycles. This leads it to burst energies from its surface in the form of solar flares and coronal mass ejection (CME); the combination of these energies are known to be solar storms. Which in turn produces electrical and magnetic fields flow towards the earth. Once they hit the surface of the earth, it turns into beautiful northern lights (Aurora Borealis) that could be seen at the north and south poles.

The dark spots over the sun’s surface are called sunspots and the activity is at its peak during the maximum phase of the solar cycle, suggesting a magnetic upsurge. Sometimes, the magnetic lines cross each other which causes an explosion of energy resulting in solar flares. These solar flares occasionally eruct billions of tons of superheated plasma (ionized gas) known as CME. If these CMEs are aimed exactly at the earth’s surface, it causes the event known as the Carrington level event; which are gigantic magnitude solar storms. British astronomer Richard Carrington witnessed these blotches of light in the sky in the year 1859, in the Northern Hemisphere. He recorded this observation. 

But, the event is not limited to terrify the eye of the witnesses, but wreak economic havoc as well. In the year 1989, a powerful solar storm had hit the province of Quebec. The city faced a blackout of 12 hours and caused a generation loss of 21,350 MW.

Its impact would be on satellites, mobile phone networks, internet connections, and will disrupt GPS. It would knock down aviation, banking, and traffic signals. The recovery of damaged power grids would take several months.

Prediction of such events has become easier with time. If a Carrington level event takes place in today’s time it would extinguish our daily activities for several months. Especially, during a pandemic when the world is running on zoom video calls and the future seems to be dependent on it.