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Without a doubt, One of the phenomena most feared by scientists is the impact of a solar storm on Earth, as this could lead to the shutdown of our entire communication and energy network. It would be an extreme event that would be produced by a “disturbance of the earth’s magnetic field, lasting from several hours to several days“, explain the experts of the National Geographic Institute (IGN).
In this sense, solar storms are generated by “a sharp increase in particles emitted during solar flares” which reach the magnetosphere and cause “alterations of the earth’s magnetic field”.
The sun is in a calm state, but it can trigger these types of storms with particular potential to cause damage. A recent study revealed the discovery of a large solar storm that took place 9,200 years ago and was still unknown.
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What are the characteristics of this solar storm?
The team of scientists announced in the research, which was published in “Nature Communication”that this storm was one of the largest solar flares in history and that it left permanent marks on the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland.
“During solar storms, the sun expels large amounts of energetic particles that they can react with atmospheric components of the Earth and produce cosmogenic radionuclides such as 14 C, 10 Be and 36 Cl. Here we present data for 10 Be and 36 Cl measured in ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica.detailed the researchers of the study.
Thus, the data consistently show “one of the largest production peaks of 10 Be and 36 Cl detected to date”, Probably produced by an extreme event in the form of a solar storm that hit Earth nearly 9,200 years ago.
What would be the consequences if this happened today?
“We showed that this event was characterized by a very severe energy spectrum and It was perhaps up to two orders of magnitude larger than any event during the instrumental period.”, say the study authors. What intrigues researchers the most is that this solar storm took place during one of the quietest phases of our star, during which the Earth is considered to be the least exposed to these extreme events.
“This is expensive and time-consuming analytical work. So, we were pleasantly surprised to find such a peak, indicating a giant solar storm hitherto unknown relative to low solar activity”explains in a press release one of the authors of the study, Raymond Muschelergeology researcher at Lund University.
If a similar solar storm were to occur today, it could have devastating consequences. In addition to power outages and radiation damage to satellites, this could pose a hazard to air traffic and astronauts, as well as the collapse of several communication systems.
“These huge storms are currently not sufficiently considered in risk assessments. It is of the utmost importance to analyze what these events may mean for current technology and how we can protect ourselves”, Raimund Muscheler concludes.
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Reference article: https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/4950328/0/la-mayor-tormenta-solar-historia-alarm-a-cientificos/