I was at a barbecue in West Sussex this weekend and had an interesting chat with a family friend called Gerry Bond who told me about a recent event that could have changed life on Earth as we currently enjoy it.<\/p>\n
On 23 July 2012, the sun unleashed two massive clouds of plasma that barely missed a catastrophic encounter with the Earth\u2019s atmosphere. These plasma clouds, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), comprised a solar storm thought to be the most powerful in at least 150 years.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, the blast site of the CMEs was not directed at Earth. Had this event occurred a week earlier when the point of eruption was Earth-facing, the outcome could have been disastrous.A CME double whammy of this potency striking Earth would probably cripple satellite communications and could severely damage the power grid.<\/p>\n
NASA offers this sobering assessment:<\/p>\n
\u201cAnalysts believe that a direct hit . . . could cause widespread power blackouts, disabling everything that plugs into a wall socket. Most people wouldn\u2019t even be able to flush their toilet because urban water supplies largely rely on electric pumps. . . . According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences, the total economic impact could exceed $2 trillion or 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina. Multiton transformers damaged by such a storm might take years to repair.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can see the latest discussion of this event here<\/a>.<\/p>\n