Researcher predicts major solar storm could lead to 'internet apocalypse'
Researcher predicts major solar tempest could atomic number 82 to 'internet apocalypse'
The May 1921 geomagnetic storm was the last major solar event, seriously damaging telegraph systems during the mid-20th century. Well, that was earlier World War Two, and since and then a lot more technology connects us now than during the days of The Charleston. And if a similar result were to occur, it could lead to mass outages, potentially lasting anywhere from a few weeks to several months, cutting off the internet and other communications for billions.
Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, an assistant professor at the Academy of California, Irvine, presented research at the SIGCOMM 2021 data communication conference suggesting that a powerful solar storm could pb to an "Internet Apocalypse." Her paper, called "Solar Superstorms: Planning for an Internet Apocalypse," explains how these storms could produce clouds of magnetized solar particles that could wreak havoc on electrical grids and the undersea cables connecting much of the world'southward internet.
As reported past LiveScience, unabridged countries would exist without power for weeks or months at time. Worst nonetheless, even when the ability comes dorsum the internet may still exist down.
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An event like this would be incredibly bleak. It doesn't take much to imagine how dissentious it would be for a state to lose power, allow lone admission to the internet for weeks at a time. What's even scarier is the likelihood of this happening sooner than later. Jyothi'due south research explains how trying to predict when we'll run across another major solar tempest is extremely difficult.
That said, thanks to data gathered from weaker solar activity and an agreement of how it "waxes and wanes" in cycles, she expects the lord's day to become more active in the near future. If that wasn't bad enough, her paper besides states that this coming cycle "has the potential to be ane of the strongest on record."
The worst part about all of this is how unprepared we are. Thank you to the rarity of these events, there hasn't been a ton of endeavour placed on preventing a global internet coma. And while nosotros've improved the technology used for our electric grids since the terminal major storm from 1921, we'd still have a difficult time dealing with this problem. Jyothi states in her paper that the Internet, as it stands today, has notwithstanding to be "stress-tested past strong solar events" and that we need to prepare for what'due south to come earlier it's too belatedly.
Thankfully, Jyothi'south written report wasn't all doom and gloom. She mentioned that local and regional internet connections aren't likely to exist damaged due to the resiliency of fiber-optic cables against geomagnetically induced currents. We'd however have to contend with a global power outage of course. Simply at the very least, the local and regional internet infrastructure should exist intact and set up for utilise in one case the lights come dorsum on.
Jyothi also explained how she and other prominent figures in her field are still researching solar storms. Ideally, the goal is to try and safely model a major upshot in the hopes of finding ways to protect ourselves.
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Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/the-internet-apocalypse-is-nigh-says-one-researcher-in-the-event-of-major-solar-storm
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