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Solar tsunami could devastate earth

The weekend saw us anticipating the arrival of a massive wave of energy, delivered in the form of a tsunami that even after crossing the Pacific Ocean, still had an effect on our shores.

As soon as it became obvious that a wave could hit NZ's shores, our Civil Defense kicked in and all sorts of emergency plans came into effect.

Ultimately, the effect of Sunday's tsunami was minimal and indeed, there's no tsunami on record that could come close to disrupting our world in the way that has been predicted by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

But FEMA's not talking about ocean waves, they're talking about a massive wave of charged particles emitted by solar storms -- and this isn't simply hypothetical, it's a very real threat that could pose significant danger to life as we know it.

Do we have the same kind of emergency planning in place to cope with this kind of disaster?

No we don't. Why not?

According to records, the earth has been slammed by massive waves of charged particles produced by solar storms at least twice in recent history.

Both of these events however (one in 1859 and another in 1921) occurred before we became a planet hugely reliant on reticulated electricity and complex electronic devices.

The huge electromagnetic fields generated when these charged particles slammed into our magnetosphere went largely unnoticed -- perhaps doing little other than producing even more splendid light displays at the poles in the form of the Aurora Borealis/Australis.

There were no orbiting satellites to be knocked out, no iPods, no PCs, no TV sets.

These massive waves of magnetism cut through everything on the planet without us even noticing.

According to the latest simulations, things would be far different if an event of the same magnitude occurred today.

Power grids around the world would be effectively put out of commission -- the massive induced currents destroying transformers and other switching equipment.

Many orbiting satellites would be either damaged or destroyed by the destructive effects of the blast of charged particles, severely disrupting global communications.

Damage would be more significant towards the poles and less around equatorial regions but the sheer magnitude of the event would have an impact on almost all developed nations.

I've seen no information published on what might happen to airliners and their passengers who might be flying high above the earth's surface at the time of such an event but I suspect the results would not be good. The average passenger jet is a mass of complex and delicate electronic systems and if you can't have your iPod running during takeoff because it might upset those systems, imagine what a massive solar storm might do.

So what are we doing, as a nation and as individuals, to cope with the aftermath of such a huge solar storm?

Do we even have a plan for such a catastrophe?

How would people cope for the weeks (or possibly months) that it might take to restore power, (and dependent services such as water, sewage, etc)?

With the world's GPS network blown to smithereens by such a solar blast, what would be the effect on air and sea transport services?

Given that major solar storms occur every few decades and the real big ones are often no more than 80-90 years apart (the last being in 1921), there's a very good chance that the next one is not far away at all.

Given the huge effect such a disaster would have on a society that is now almost totally reliant on reliable electricity and communications technology, I for one would like to know exactly what plans our government has in place for coping with it, when it happens.

Have you taken a solar storm event into account when setting up your family's emergency supplies? Just what additional supplies would you stockpile to cope with the aftermath of such a catastrophe?

What could be done to better prepare the country to cope in the wake?

Perhaps you better not discard that sextant just yet eh?

Related story from NPR.

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