Scientists are warning of a major coronal mass ejection, in which huge eruptions blast high energy particles out into space. Also called a solar storm, the phenomenon could knock out GPS systems, cause blackouts and affect satellite communication as well as high frequency radio communication used by ships and aircraft. However, mobile phones and landlines are expected to remain unaffected.
A coronal mass ejection is a phenomenon during which parts of the sun's corona detach. The corona is the pearly glow around the sun that you can only usually see during a total solar eclipse, made up of plasma and rarefied gases.
The new government document, titled Space Weather Preparedness Strategy, has been presented by the U.K. government's Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
The report states: "Space weather results from solar activity. Solar activity can produce X-rays, high energy particles and Coronal Mass Ejections of plasma. Where such activity is directed towards Earth there is the potential to cause wide-ranging impacts. These include power loss, aviation disruption, communication loss, and disturbance to (or loss) of satellite systems," according to the Daily Mail.
The Carrington Event, the last major coronal mass ejection to hit the Earth, was a powerful geomagnetic solar storm in 1859. That solar storm was thought to have been the biggest in 500 years. Moving to the present times, if something similar were to happen, we could expect the national grid to fail, satellite operations to shut down, increased risk of radiation to flights and skittish electronic systems, says the Daily mail.
The Space Weather Preparedness Strategy said that during the Carrington Event, it took the blast of energy and particles 18 hours to reach the Earth. But it added: "It is therefore likely that our reasonable worst case scenario would only allow us 12 hours from observation to impact," according to Yahoo! news.
According to the report, each country should prepare for such an event in the following manner: improve alerts and warnings, update power and communication infrastructure with failsafe backups and have a crisis plan ready to deal with the effects should they come to pass.
Individuals should prepare themselves for this solar event just as they would for any other natural hazards like floods and storms, reports Yahoo! news.
