• Question: Could a solar flare off the sun cause a worldwide EMP?

    Asked by 428bera39 to Colin on 13 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Colin Johnston

      Colin Johnston answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      It’s totally impossible but I don’t think it’s very likely. I don’t lose sleep worrying about it!

      I agree it is important to study this area more.When a coronal mass ejection (CME), strikes Earth’s atmosphere, it disturbs the Earth’s magnetic field. The charged particles in the CME can slam into our atmosphere causing beautiful auroral displays, disrupt the electronic on orbiting satellites or even cause them to fail. They can have been known to disrupt telecommunications, navigation systems and power grids, causing major black outs. The effect are similar to those of a nuclear EMP.

      In March 1989 a CME caused a power failure in Québec, as well as across parts of the U.S. The electrical supply was cut off to over 6 million people for 9 hours. This scares people but it may not happen like this again, the power companies today are more prepared for this kind of event.

      Astronomers continually monitor the Sun, watching for a solar event with the potential to affect Earth After such an event, it usually takes several days for the coronal mass ejection, or CME, to reach Earth. If a big dangerous CME was seen to be on its way, power grids would be reconfigured to provide extra grounding.

      We need to learn more about what the Sun is capable of and just how vulnerable our technology is.

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