Nasa Issues 2013 Solar Storm Warning

NASA has warned of a once-in-a-lifetime ‘space storm’ after the sun wakes ‘from a deep slumber’ sometime around 2013, causing ‘20 times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina’.

Senior space agency scientists believe that the super storm would hit like ‘a bolt of lightning’ and damage everything from emergency services’ systems, hospital equipment, banking systems and air traffic control devices, through to “everyday” items such as home computers, iPods and Sat Navs.

And unless precautions are taken, it could cause catastrophic consequences for the world’s health, emergency services and national security.
"We know it is coming but we don’t know how bad it is going to be,” Dr Richard Fisher, the director of NASA’s Heliophysics division, said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.

coupmedia.org...

I can't find the official Nasa statement although this sounds very interesting to me. We have heard lots theories about 2012/2013 and possible changes coming, some of those have been said to be solar flares that will effect the earth in a variety of ways. If this is true then it does seem very interesting given the context of all the other prophecies and theories regarding this period.

I am not saying this is totally legit, although it seems definitely worth looking into given the context and timing.

Every 22 years the Sun’s magnetic energy cycle peaks while the number of sunspots — or flares — hits a maximum level every 11 years. Fisher said these two events would combine in 2013 to produce huge levels of radiation.

Cheers

It sure does seem we have at least a couple real world and serious things coming at about the same time as the legends and prophecies. It'll either add to the hysteria some segments start getting as 'the date' gets closer....or it'll help explain things that continue to develop. Either way, it is certainly impossible to ignore the solar maximum coming at around the same time.....first quarter-into 2nd of 2013, actually. It's going to be a long year.

Sunspot count is running right about the predicted line so far, if that helps....

Sunspot prediction vs. count chart over time.

reply to post by sir_slide


This is the official statement from NASA as of January this year...

The current prediction for Sunspot Cycle 24 gives a smoothed sunspot number maximum of about 96 in late 2013. We are currently over three years into Cycle 24. The current predicted size still makes this the smallest sunspot cycle in over 80 years.

solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov...

Let it come. I grow tired of our "modern" life. Put people to work when their survival is on the line, not for the next blackberry or iPad that is coming out.

Nothing we can do about it but sit back, relax, enjoy the show and then get to work in the fields.

reply to post by Chadwickus


Thanks Wickus, I'm not really sure what that means though....

Originally posted by sir_slide
reply to post by Chadwickus

 

Thanks Wickus, I'm not really sure what that means though....

It's his way of saying "Hush, go back to sleep. Nothing is going to happen". In the absence of Phage.

reply to post by sir_slide


um... story link date is July 2011... a bit more than 72 hours..

reply to post by R_Clark


Lucky it's not in the breaking news section then ey?

reply to post by LeTan


Thought so, phage has been about today though, just a matter of time I imagine.....I hate predictability

reply to post by sir_slide


It means current predictions are saying that we will reach solar maximum late 2013 and it will quite small.

If you go to the link you can see the sunspot progression graph.

It is only a prediction though and a big eruption can still happen at any time.

reply to post by Chadwickus


Cheers for the response, quite small compared to what it's been in the past?

reply to post by sir_slide


Sorry but i believe the world ends in 2012...

Duh...

I think the truth to the story is not as sensational.

I believe this is stemming from a report done by NCAR released in 2006 by NASA. Which I searched for and found this:

Like most experts in the field, Hathaway has confidence in the conveyor belt model and agrees with Dikpati that the next solar maximum should be a doozy. But he disagrees with one point. Dikpati's forecast puts Solar Max at 2012. Hathaway believes it will arrive sooner, in 2010 or 2011.

Source

They didn't seem that confident back then, of course that was not the end of it. It was rehashed in 2010:

Link

This was discussed at a Space Weather conference in DC and covered by the media.

Link

Here is a excerpt from the 2010 NASA report:

The National Academy of Sciences framed the problem two years ago in a landmark report entitled "Severe Space Weather Events—Societal and Economic Impacts." It noted how people of the 21st-century rely on high-tech systems for the basics of daily life. Smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications can all be knocked out by intense solar activity. A century-class solar storm, the Academy warned, could cause twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina.

Which ties in with the article from the OP:

Which all of this has been rehashed by the link in OP...

In any event, most of the original sources for the story can be found in this post.

reply to post by LeTan


I feel the EXACT same way!

Originally posted by LeTan

Originally posted by sir_slide
reply to post by Chadwickus

 

Thanks Wickus, I'm not really sure what that means though....

It's his way of saying "Hush, go back to sleep. Nothing is going to happen". In the absence of Phage.

Priceless!

Couldn't have said it better myself.

The original article is from the Daily Telegraph 18 months ago and it is full of misquotes and bad information.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Phage


So it was a Nasa person speaking to the telegraph who you, because of misquotes and the such deem to be illegitimate? Or are you saying the article is no good because of the misquotations?

reply to post by sir_slide

Originally posted by Phage


The article is a sensationalist load of crap. Twisting what was really said.

science.nasa.gov...

reply to post by Phage


Alrighty then

reply to post by LeTan


It's true that there's nothing we can do. However, it won't just send us back to the stone age. It will be catastrophic for every living thing on the planet. Think about how many nuclear reactors there are worldwide. Without power we won't be able to keep the fuel rods cooled. There will be meltdowns worldwide. Nothing will be able to escape the large amounts of radiation released due to these meltdowns. Basically causing an extinction level event. Sucks to be us. Live it up while you can. Cheers.