Have you ever heard of a solar storm? Also known as a geomagnetic storm this is caused by a solar wind sock wave that interacts with the Earth's magnetic field resulting to a temporary disturbance. Last Thursday, the US finally took precautionary measures on how to deal with it according to MSN News.
This will be a great potential threat to the world's space weather. Space weather is an extensive filed of science. A part of it talks about the materials that the Sun throws to the Earth's way, including magnetized plasma, high-energy x-rays, charged particles and many more.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and NASA space weather experts gave warnings for years that if this huge solar storm will hit the Earth there could be cataclysmic effects.
Since this is an electricity-dependent world, a solar storm would bring catastrophic results for the people. Everything that counts on electricity could suffer the most. John Kappenman, a space weather consultant said, "This could be one of the most severe natural disasters that the country, and major portions of the world, could face." If this storm will occur, currents emitted by the Sun will make their way to the Earth's ground through conductive materials and can be captured by the grids and melt power generators.
Now, the US is finally heeding all the warnings. The very first National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan were released by the White House; outlining the goals and strategies for space weather forecasting, modeling and response coordination. These would feature the preparation when this disastrous event will happen in the future. There's hope for contemporary society.
We have encountered a series of various natural phenomena for the past decades, may it be trouble-free or life threatening. Earthquakes, hurricanes, storms and tsunami are just examples of these calamities that we are all too familiar of the dangers brought to us. However, there are many phenomena that are still rare and new to us and the solar storm is one of them. And with occurrences like these, preparation is of utmost significance.
