WND 01.10.2013
WASHINGTON – Like “flash bulbs at a rock concert,” the magnetic canopy of a sunspot exhibited some 37 hours of extreme ultraviolet eruptions this past weekend.
The area of concern is sunspot AR 1654, which had been facing away from Earth but now is turning toward it, increasing what scientists of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration call the “geo-effectiveness” of those explosions.
“This could be the sunspot that breaks the recent lengthy spell of calm space weather around our plant,” according to a NOAA statement.
Scientists said the “behemoth” sunspot AR 1654 stretches some 112,000 miles, the equivalent of 14 Earth diameters from end to end. The flares could create M-class flares and a “risk” of X-class flares, the scientists said.
NASA has issued repeated warnings that the sun will reach the most intense period of its 11-year cycle this year and into 2014, with the prospect of continued solar flares into 2020. If the Earth gets a direct hit from one of these solar flares – some of which can be up to four times the size of Earth – NASA says the damage could cost the United States alone up to $2 trillion in the first year for repairs.
It also could take four to 10 years to recover and could affect the lives of more than 160 million people.
By “affect,” scientists say they mean put in the position of being threatened with death. They say they would expect many casualties because of America’s dependence on electric power, electronics and digital telecommunications and information networks.
Further, there are thousands of so-called SCADAs – Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Data systems, or automated control systems – which control large sections of industry and commerce. All of these systems are vulnerable to an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, a high-intensity burst of electromagnetic energy of which solar flares is but one source. Another source would be from a high-altitude nuclear explosion.
Other forms of electromagnetic energy include gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet radiation, visible light, infrared radiation, microwaves and radio waves. SCADAs are referred to as the “ubiquitous robots of the modern age” and are vital to the interdependence of the critical infrastructures that comprise modern society.
According to the congressionally mandated 2008 EMP commission, these automated control systems and their mutual interdependence are two of the most important aspects of America’s modern infrastructures. They pose the greatest vulnerability in all of the country’s infrastructures. The SCADA systems are especially used in such critical infrastructure applications as electrical transmission and distribution, water management, and oil and gas pipelines.
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