Scientists warn of $2,000 billion solar "Katrina"

Scientists warn of $2,000 billion solar "Katrina"

www.ft.com

...scientists are warning that earth should prepare for an intense electromagnetic storm that, in the worst case, could be a “global Katrina” costing the world economy $2,000 billion. Senior officials responsible for policy on solar storms – also known as space weather – in the US, UK and Sweden urged more preparedness at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.

(visit the link for the full news article)

It's interesting to see a mainstram publication like Financial Times take on a "fringe" issue such as solar doom, which of course will be familiar to denizens of ATS in many forms.

This article is interesting because it puts a pricetag on the possible damage...the first such attempt I've seen. Of course, I can't imagine how they arrived at this number in the first place and something tells me the damage could be far worse than a paltry 2 trillion. I'm thinking up to and including the earth's crust being fried to a crispy scrim.

Last week's solar events have put the mainstram pundits and government wonks on notice. But how long can the peabrain mass-media attention span maintain a bead on something as abstract and not-in-your-face as space weather?


www.ft.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Link does not work unless you are a subscriber.

Love the avatar, Ezekiel? I am still unaware of any reprecussion of a solar flare. I have seen many theories on the history channel. (Global power outage) (Global incineration)

I also heard that a few places in Canada and Russia had power outages. THis was on the MSM, local TV. 2,000 billion would probably be a small figure, when compared to the lives that will be decimated

reply to post by silent thunder


Two thousand billion dollars???
Why does that remind me of Team America...9/11 x 100?
Sorry I had to.
Anyway Global Katrina? Why don't they just say that they don't know whats coming but they expect whatever it is to damage everything on Earth...in 2 to 3 years.

reply to post by silent thunder


I was unable to read the whole article as they want me to register - that would mean more spam in my box. Was wondering if they mentioned any kind of time frame and what would be the most devastating part of the storms - the grids I would think.

Yeah, how is it that they can place a price tag on an unforeseen disaster?
Kind of like when the local news reports on a fire, and they can right off the bat give an estimate on damage, as the fire is being put out.

Impending Doom... Hmmmmm...

Sorry, solar storms don't bother me that much. This seems like propaganda against the once source of consciousness that brings life to this entire planet. If they can make you afraid of that, wow... what power they have!

So, if my iphone explodes... well... I'll just deal with it.

reply to post by silent thunder

could be a “global Katrina” costing the world economy $2,000 billion

Well its a good thing that they gave us number to shoot for. Now all I have to do is open a lemonade stand and get busy accumulating those kinds of funds. Can you believe this?

Remember Y2K? That disaster was averted because we properly funded it! Good thing it wasn't all some kind of fear mongering hoax or anything.

I heard that the funds will be used to fabricate a huge polarized monocal for the planet. It will be a joint effort by Oakley and Foster Grant and should be completed well ahead of the catastrophic event. If we get the funds collected.

reply to post by silent thunder


it said I have to subscribe before i can view this article. I dont want to subscribe, you should put the whole article up for those of us who dont wnat to subscribe. ( i think paying to view an article is asking a little much

Maybe they should worry about learning how to count money, then worry about what affects the sun will have on us IMHO.
$2,000 billion = $2 trillion.

sorry

Originally posted by Mayura
Impending Doom... Hmmmmm...

Sorry, solar storms don't bother me that much. This seems like propaganda against the once source of consciousness that brings life to this entire planet. If they can make you afraid of that, wow... what power they have!

So, if my iphone explodes... well... I'll just deal with it.

edit on 20-2-2011 by Mayura because: (no reason given)

I feel the same. I don't see this as a bad thing. Yes my Iphone wont work and my ATS won't either. Neither will all the complex military hardware which is definitely worth getting my iphone blown up for.

Thanks for your responses...Sorry for those of you who are not Financial Times subscribers...I would copy and paste the whole thing for you, but that would be contrary to ATS's Terms and Conditions. It's a short article, at any rate, and here's my brief synopsis of the key points.

-At the meeting named in the first post, international officials called for taking the issue more seriously, and for concrete preparation and predicition steps.

-The mechanism of a solar storm is briefly described. It takes about 20 minutes for havoc to reach the earth. Last week's solar storm was the biggest since 2007 and has raised some concerns. There were minor disruptions of communications and civil aviation.

-"The 11-year cycle of solar activity is quite variable and the present one is running late, with the next maximum expected in 2013."

-1859 was the biggest solar storm on record. The $2 trillion figure is drawn from imagining the damage a similarly sized storm would have on modern life. With our dependence on networks, satellites, and other technological goodies, we would feel the punch of a major solar storm much more acutely.

this article in FT is in the Global Economy sector and is basically about the effect of solar storms on electronics and how this would affect global finance, stock markets, trading etc.

I feel the same. I don't see this as a bad thing. Yes my Iphone wont work and my ATS won't either. Neither will all the complex military hardware which is definitely worth getting my iphone blown up for.
Gotta go with yall on this one. I believe it is very possible but in the end after the mass panic, riots, it might be one of the best things that could happen to us and this planet. We would be back to almost pre-industrial standards but would this truely be such a bad thing?

I really don't see how some of you can be so nonchalant and unconcerned about this. (or perhaps naive) You do realize that it's not just your Ipods that will refuse to work, right? If the power grids go down because of a major coronal mass ejection, they won't just "come back on line" ; they will be "fried". Tell me...how will you get , oh say, hot water, groceries...hell, MONEY for that matter?? Almost everything on earth we do nowadays depends on the electrical grid. All security and cameras, (hope you're not standing in one of the million places that will get robbed when all the security cams go out) banks, phones, your stove, fridge, lights, furnaces , air-conditioners, etc., etc., and never-ending etc. This will not come back on-line in a few days, weeks or maybe even months AND in some cases YEARS!! This not 1859 when the last major solar storm hit us bad and took out all the telegraph systems...LOL. This is 2011...we haven't gotten up out of chairs to change the channel in what...35 years? Many of us don't even use cash anymore...all electronic banking. Our whole lives revolve around the use of electricity and we depend on it more and more every year. What I worry about the most are the nuclear power plants and how long they can hold out. I know they have back ups, but don't know how long they last. I hope that those of you who aren't worried live close to a river so you can haul water to flush your toilets...lol.

Read up!!

www.space.com...


On Sept. 2, 1859, an incredible storm of charged particles sent by the sun slammed into Earth's atmosphere, overpowered it, and caused havoc on the ground. Telegraph wires, the high-tech stuff of the time, suddenly shorted out in the United States and Europe, igniting widespread fires. Colorful aurora, normally visible only in polar regions, were seen as far south as Cuba and Hawaii.

www.mi2g.com...//www.mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/press/170610.php

"The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity... at the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms." One needs to go back over 8,000 years in order to find a time when the sun was, on average, as active as it is at present!

Our 21st century society is micro-managed by computers, 24/7 internet communications and interlocking electric grids. All are extremely vulnerable to outside forces, both natural and man-made.

If a truly massive Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) hits earth, it could practically take out the world's electricity distribution on a semi-permanent basis. It would take many years, if not decades, to repair the world's electrical system, even if replacement parts were immediately available. There would be massive damage to power generation, distribution facilities, substations and countless transformers and switching equipment everywhere. When high power transformers used in substations or on utility poles are damaged, they must be scrapped or rebuilt. If the factories that create or repair these electrical components are also without power, they will be unable to rebuild or repair electrical equipment. With an AC power outage, there will be no diesel fuel available to fill the tanks of large heavy goods vehicles used to transport and install the massive electrical components.

It takes an enormous amount of power to bring a power plant online. This power must come from another power plant. If all power plants were knocked off line, or all those in a specific region, there would be no means to start them back up again. It would take a year or two to get one operational again and additional years to power the rest. So it might be a decade for human civilisation to achieve a semblance of what it was, prior to the paralysis caused by a massive electromagnetic pulse.

***Consider then that our entire 21st century civilisation is completely dependent on computers for power, lifestyle synchronisation, and everything else we do. Yet we don't have any backup in the event of a massive electromagnetic pulse.

What would happen today if another solar flare the size of the 1859 Carrington Event were to hit earth? According to a report by the National Academy of Science (NAS) it could induce electrical currents that would knock out at least 300 main transformers cutting off power to 130 million people, all within 90 seconds.


Thank you Silent Thunder for starting this thread - it IS - (contrary to what some believe) VERY important. Perhaps some folks should educate themselves on a topic at least a little before they post something so laughable.

S&F !!

Originally posted by Skittle
Link does not work unless you are a subscriber.

Try this one www.dailymail.co.uk...

The Mail is also reporting on this frightening senario (above link)

Originally posted by jackflap
reply to post by silent thunder

 

could be a “global Katrina” costing the world economy $2,000 billion

Well its a good thing that they gave us number to shoot for. Now all I have to do is open a lemonade stand and get busy accumulating those kinds of funds. Can you believe this?

Remember Y2K? That disaster was averted because we properly funded it! Good thing it wasn't all some kind of fear mongering hoax or anything.

I heard that the funds will be used to fabricate a huge polarized monocal for the planet. It will be a joint effort by Oakley and Foster Grant and should be completed well ahead of the catastrophic event. If we get the funds collected.

Yeah this will be the precursor to the new solar tax, we are currently going to get a flood tax after swimming in floodwater in QLD Australia. A solar tax is the next logical step!

Forget the money - who will survive?

This Christchurch earthquake, which has wrecked a city already trying to recover, - who predicted that?

So, whatever scientists predict, terrible things will happen regardless.

And scientists can predict as much as they like, but the planet will do whatever it will do.