Americas Electric Grid Left Unprotected!

Electric Grid left unprotected against EMP's & Solar Flares; Would only take the U.S. 2 Billion to fix...

-Opinion-

We here in America do not realize how old our infrastructure has gotten. See we were the first in a lot of areas. This was good, it gave us a great advantage over the rest of the world. Problem is it is now a disadvantage. Its been over 50 years since our major electric infrastructure has been put in place. Hurricane Sandy showed a sliver of our vulnerability. When that storm hit New York and New Jersey it nearly wiped out all the coastal areas of both states. But there was another disturbing occurrence. Power was lost throughout the states even where the storm seemingly didn't seem to hit as hard power was lost. This occurred because the electricity is sent above ground, through telephone poles. This leaves them vulnerable to the elements. Meaning when the tree went down so did the power. And when the citizens of these two states lost power it was not recovered in many areas for two even three weeks. This of course happened in the dead of winter, leaving families freezing and even some elderly to lose their lives. Most Americans may not realize that telephone polls as a way of delivering electricity is an ancient practice to the rest of the world, as is the copper wire that is used on them. Nowadays an electric infrastructure is built underground and with fiber optic wire. This though isn't even the most serious problem with our electric grid. Where the true problem lies is in the transformers. They are the most vulnerable piece. when it comes to truly catastrophic events that may happen in the near future. Putting in the most simple of terms, when we use a power strip in our home they have a built in surge protector, so we do not fry our TVs or computers. Americas Huge monolithic transformers that power this country though are not afforded this and are left unprotected against power surges.

Fear of the Day - What's It Going To Be?

If you let the authorities, the church or the conspiracy theorists get to you, they will, and then they will work to control your psyche by keeping you fear for as long as you listen to their dribble. Advice to self and to reader; don't let them -, it's your life and your mind, not theirs. Okay so let's talk.

You see not long ago, an acquaintance was all worried and she asked me; "did you know the Sun is going to flip and we might all be in danger of a huge EMP like solar storm in 2015?" Wow, I thought to myself, who has been bending her ear? The reality is that yes, the Sun's magnetic pole should flip soon, in fact it should have flipped already at the top of the 12-year solar maximum cycle. This is normal - this is what the Sun does. So, why hasn't it happened yet?

Yes, well the Sun is acting differently than we'd expected it too, but no need for major alarm right now. There is always the possibility of a massive solar flare that is pointed towards Earth, yes, like the Carrington Event, perhaps even worse, there is always that risk, and uncertainty. We live on the surface of a planet, so, there are and will be challenges.

Solar Flares Add to Radio Transmission Intensity

Maybe rather than worrying about the next giant solar flare to come take out our communications satellites, fry our cell towers and render us in the dark with a cascading failure of our electrical grid, maybe we ought to take that energy collected and store it. How so you ask, well why not use some of the tricks that alternative energy folks have discussed with using that energy to compress air in giant tanks underground for instance or, pump the water back into a hydro-electric dam from below to use again? Let's talk.

For a reference I'd like to use the graphs and charts in this research paper; "Solar and Space Weather Radiophysics," Chapter One; "Solar and Solar Radio Effects on Technologies, by Louis J. Lanzerotti of Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, and the Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark.

Okay so from an observational standpoint, personally, I have noticed that WiFi signals worked better at Sunrise when the Sun's rays hit the localized atmosphere, in fact, the signal strength was double or rather could be picked up from double the normal distance prior to the sunrise. Could we use the extra energy from every sunrise to collect at least some of the energy we use during the peak hours of the day?

Now then, let's talk about Sunspots and solar flares and their effects on equipment, communication, satellites, and our electrical grids. The great Toronto Black Out in the mid-1950s occurred during a solar storm, and we all know about the historic Carrington Event of 1859. Overloading the electronics wreaked chaos for power lines and Morse Code transmitters and receivers - well can you imagine the damage that would be done to today's electronics?

A Carrington Event Is a Massive Plasma Solar Flare - A Ring of Fire

Solar flares continually erupt from the surface of the sun. These powerful surges of plasma can reach the earths magnetic field. The number of flares and sunspots fluctuate each year reaching a maximum every approximate eleven years. The Sun was due to reach a solar maximum in its 11 year cycle in 2011 or 2012. The current solar maximum was expected to be less severe than normal, however recent observations suggest that the maximum will now be delayed and occur in 2013 and be 40-50% stronger than the last maximum in 2001.

Carrington Event

A recent article published in the New Scientist and based on a report by NASA and the National Academy of Science suggests that a massive solar flare could cause serious damage to the electrical power grid in the USA. Such a massive solar storm is called a "Carrington Event" after Richard Carrington who viewed and reported on a major solar flare that occurred in the mid 19th Century. From August 28th through September 4th, 1859, a series of northern lights or aurorae borealis which were unusually spectacular were observed throughout the northern hemisphere. The lights were actually seen as far south as Hawaii, the Caribbean, and Central America. The event had little impact on the world of the time, but did cause serious damage to telegraph lines across the US.

A Carrington Event in 2012?

Could such an event happen today and what would be its impact? It is likely that the electrical activity in polar regions could drive large currents in the electrical grids causing large-scale and possibly long-term damage. In reality, there is some warning given by instruments based on two satellites, Twins 1 & 2, a pair US National Reconnaissance Office satellites. The Twins carry instruments that measure the flux of neutral particles and Lyman alpha photons. These particles indicate a disturbance of the geocorona around the earth consistent with a Carrington event. They would give a short-term warning measured in hours rather than days and might allow the grid operators to shut down systems in keys areas and prevent excessive damage. NASA appears to be sufficiently concerned that it is launching the "Solar Dynamics Observatory" which will study the sun in unprecedented detail. This should improve our understanding and ability to react to any threat.

A Global Disaster From the Perfect Solar Storm

The average solar cycle lasts for eleven years. The cycle includes a minimum of solar activity and a maximum. The sun is unusually quiet right now and has been for some time but there should be an increase in solar activity at some point in the near future.

The best current scientific estimate for the next solar maximum is 2012. If this estimate is correct, there is still a few years to try and prevent the potential of a future global disaster. A disaster that would begin on the surface of the sun and could end with tragedy on earth.

The surface of the sun is a mass of plasma that contains highly charged energy particles. Once in a while, some of these particles escape the suns surface and a mass of plasma travels through space on the solar wind. This process is known in scientific terms as a coronal mass ejection but it can also be called a solar storm.

A disaster for the planet would occur if a solar storm reaches and hits the earths magnetic shield in just the right way. If it were to happen, millions of people would lose their lives and the planet would be thrown into chaos as the technology that has become crucial to every day living suddenly gets taken away.

Emergency Survival Action Required Before Massive CME Hits Earth Head On

Building or purchasing an Emergency Survival Kit is one thing we all know we should do. Well now may be a good time to act, as one of the next few Coronal Mass Ejections could hit earth head on. It could revert our Electronics Age back to the Stone Age!

The Behemoth sunspot that has been labeled 1302, and tracked closely by the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory, has been emitting some high powered CMEs. Emergency Survival Action may become necessary in the days ahead. The latest of these huge CMEs, a M8.6 and M7.4 flares exploded from the suns surface on September 24th, 2011, and an even larger one on the 25th an M8.8. The good news is that the blast only delivered a glancing blow to the Earth's magnetic field on September 26th, 2011.

Is your Emergency Survival kit in good order? You may need it in the days ahead, as sunspot 1302 continues to unleash more of the gigantic eruptions. We have been lucky so far, as this sunspot has been mostly pointed away from us. This condition however, is rapidly changing, as the earth continues it's journey orbiting the sun, we will be entering a more direct path in front of these eruptions. According to NASA scientist sunspot 1302 is still growing and shows no immediate signs of quieting down.

Our more modern society didn't really pay too much attention to solar storms until the Carrington Event of 1859. This was an enormous coronal mass ejection (CME) that carried enough electromagnet energy to overwhelm the Earth protective magnetic field and knock out the only real technology of the time, the telegraph system. That event's electromagnetic energy carried enough of a punch to shock some of the telegraph operators, and even start fires in some cases.

Solar Flares the 8 Minute Journey

Solar flares are the biggest explosions in the universe, and the most energetic. They were first discovered by Galileo in the early 17th century, and then later on in 1859 by an English amateur astronomer by the name of Richard Christopher Carrington. Since then, they have not only been observed on the sun, but they have also been viewed on other stars as well.

A solar flare is a large explosion in the sun's atmosphere that can release as much as 6 × 1025 joules of energy(about a sixth of the total energy output of the sun each second). Although difficult to predict their occurrence with any certainty, the only warning lies in the fact that most proton storms take two or more hours from the time of visual detection to reach earth's orbit (providing little time to prepare for its impact).

Solar flares are caused by a process called magnetic reconnection whereby opposite magnetic fields on the sun's surface come together causing a sudden release of energy. Solar flares affect all layers of the solar atmosphere (photosphere, corona, and chromosphere), causing plasma to heat up to tens of millions of kelvins(a unit of measurement of temperature) and accelerating electrons, protons, and heavier ions to near the speed of light. In fact, while the fastest visit to the moon took 8 hours and 38 minutes, solar flares only take a mere 8 minutes to find their way into the earths ionosphere an can have damaging effects. These flares produce radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum at all wavelengths, from radio waves to gamma rays and as a result, can cause damaging effects on the earth such as: Loss of power systems, radiation poisoning, rendering chip ran vehicles powerless, affecting inter-planetary travel for astronauts, as well as cell phones (and other electronics) and satellite interruptions (as well as other systems operating at those frequencies).

Are You Prepared for Emergency Survival Following a Solar Storm

Solar Storms have been plaguing the earth since the beginning of time. The effects of these solar storms until recently had little effect on mankind. The world's governments have quietly begun taking this threat to our modern way of life very serious as of late. Lets take an in depth look at just what has transpired in the last few years.

Our more modern society didn't really pay too much attention to solar storms until the Carrington Event of 1859. This was an enormous coronal mass ejection (CME) that carried enough electromagnet energy to overwhelm the Earth protective magnetic field and knock out the only real technology of the time, the telegraph system. The electromagnetic energy carried enough of a punch to shock some of the telegraph operators, and even start fires in some cases.

In March of 1989, a solar storm much less intense than that of 1859 caused a major power grid in Canada covering an entire province to go down for nine hours. It damaged transformers in Quebec, New Jersey, and Great Britain, as well as causing more than 200 power anomalies across the USA. Then in 1994, two communications satellites suffered major malfunctions, disrupting radio, television, and other communications due to a solar storm. Another storm triggered a regional blackout in southern Sweden and may have damaged transformers in South Africa, in October of 2003.

The Earth won the roulette spin, on April 19th, 2010. One of the most massive eruptions in years was observed by NASA's SDO, but fortunately we were not in the line of fire this time. Again on August 1st 2010, the sun emitted a C-class solar flare that spewed a coronal mass ejecting in our direction. The CME impacted with our magnetic field on August 3rd. This one was only strong enough to provide a brilliant aurora seen down to about the 45th parallel. On Valentines day 2011, a M6.6-category X-ray irradiance magnitude blast was unleashed from our sun. This CME was the largest so far in the current cycle.

Are You Prepared for Emergency Survival Following a Solar Storm?

Solar Storms are coming. Emergency Survival knowledge, and Preparedness are key. You may be asking questions like, "Exactly what is a solar storm, and how can it affect me and my family?" "What emergency survival knowledge should I know about?" "If preparedness is the key, then what should I do?" In this four part document we are going to answer these questions and provide insight into the larger picture. We will give you the information that the media, and government are holding back.

So what is a solar storm? Well solar as you might have guessed refers to an event involving our sun. A storm is defined as a violent disturbance of the atmosphere. But instead of the disturbance occurring in the form of thunder, lightening, or precipitation, it is in the form of charged particles that are ejected from the sun. These charged particles travel in large clouds that can carry up to ten billion tons of plasma. These clouds are also called Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), when they are released from the sun.

The particles in a CME (ions and electrons) are electrically charged, which means they also feel magnetic forces. Under normal circumstances these particles would be deflected by the Earth's magnetic field or our shield if you will, and the survival of our way of life would not be in jeopardy. According to researches sponsored by NASA our magnetic field often develops two holes that allow huge leaks. These leaks can allow up to twenty times more particles to pass. You might be thinking that this sounds like a bit of an emergency. Hold on we're not done yet. The number of particles breaching this shield depends on the orientation of the sun's magnetic field. When the Sun's and Earth's magnetic fields are in alignment the largest breaches occur. The sun's magnetic field changes direction every cycle.

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