Next solar max set for 2012; NASA funded study says storms to increase

The active sun. [Photo from NASA.]Even a casual student of science understands the link between the sun and Earth’s wellbeing. Small wonder that a number of ancient cultures imagined the sun a deity. Most of us are aware that solar storms can seriously impact our planet, and a study funded by NASA explored how extreme solar eruptions could have severe consequences for communications, power grids and other technology on Earth. Solar cycles span 11 years; the next solar maximum will, according to NASA, occur in 2012. Hear the Twilight Zone song in the background? Mention the year 2012 and all those pop culture theories revolving around the Mayan calendar come to mind. There’s even a movie about it. So what might we earthlings expect?

The bottom line is that solar storms can have a catastrophic impact on Earth. The study said space weather can produce solar storm electromagnetic fields that induce extreme currents in wires, disrupting power lines, causing wide-spread blackouts and affecting communication cables that support the Internet. Severe space weather also produces solar energetic particles and the dislocation of the Earth's radiation belts, which can damage satellites used for commercial communications, global positioning and weather forecasting. Space weather has been recognized as causing problems with new technology since the invention of the telegraph in the 19th century.

The website Space.com said, “In early September in 1859, telegraph wires suddenly shorted out in the United States and Europe, igniting widespread fires. Colorful aurora, normally visible only in polar regions, were seen as far south as Rome and Hawaii.”

There is hope. A NASA press release said catastrophic failure of commercial and government infrastructure in space and on the ground can be mitigated through raising public awareness, improving vulnerable infrastructure and developing advanced forecasting capabilities. Without preventive actions or plans, the trend of increased dependency on modern space-weather sensitive assets could make society more vulnerable in the future.

What I’d like to know: do such storms have an impact on human behavior? Is it feasible to leap from knowing such storms impact electrical grids and other technology and not assume they have an impact on us lowly humans? What about other animal species?

The study found the sun is currently near the minimum of its 11-year activity cycle. It is expected that solar storms will increase in frequency and intensity toward the next solar maximum, expected to occur around 2012.

Meanwhile government is obsessed with controversial carbon emission theories. Seems to me they should be more worried about solar storms, with an eye on 2012.

Update on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 11:09AM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Whoops to NASA:

Apocalypse Sun?(Investors Business Daily, 6-2-09)

It's the sort of news that makes one's eyes glaze over. "If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78," said Doug Biesecker of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center.