Yeah the solar tsunami was something I had never seen before.
Solar Flares and the Power Grid
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I don't think the damage will be as "devastating" as many think. That's not to say there won't be "widespread" damage, but our capabilities in identifying and isolating the problems are much better today than they were yesterday. That not only goes for the power grid but also sunspot detection and avoidance. A lot can be avoided by just turning stuff off. The problem there in lies how long does the impacts of the sunspots last. From what I understand it can range anywhere from "no time to a long time". It takes minutes to hours for the effects to travel to the earth so I'm confident we'll know it's coming.
Some time ago I read a paper by Oak Ridge Nat Lab on electromagnetic pulses and their impact on CONUS infrastructure and they had some interesting findings. The problem with the paper was the assumption that "nothing will be done" to protect the power grid. That is not entirely true since the paper was written probably 20 yrs ago. A lot has changed since then with the inclusion of so-called renewable energy attachments to the grid that could help insulate the system. Probably not enough though. Several years ago I worked on a project that looked at the a parallel question and found a lot of good news. However, it will depend on energy sector policies and implementation.
Oh, that does beg the question....do solar panels work better with "world-ending sunspot events?"
Some time ago I read a paper by Oak Ridge Nat Lab on electromagnetic pulses and their impact on CONUS infrastructure and they had some interesting findings. The problem with the paper was the assumption that "nothing will be done" to protect the power grid. That is not entirely true since the paper was written probably 20 yrs ago. A lot has changed since then with the inclusion of so-called renewable energy attachments to the grid that could help insulate the system. Probably not enough though. Several years ago I worked on a project that looked at the a parallel question and found a lot of good news. However, it will depend on energy sector policies and implementation.
Oh, that does beg the question....do solar panels work better with "world-ending sunspot events?"
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I think the main threat to the power grid from a solar flare is the ground potential changes over long distances and causes a DC current to flow in the AC transmission lines that transformers HATE. Lessons were learned in the 1989 CME that took out the Quebec Hydrogrid. More capacitors were installed in transmissions lines and now we can detect damaging DC current flows before transformers blow up. However the preventative action is still a blackout.
The future is DC transmission.
The future is DC transmission.
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I worked a project that looked at the Synchrophasors in the system and the contribution they make to power distribution. They are really good at detecting disruption and other problems with transmission. Not sure how that can help/hurt this particular scenario but we were able to do stuff with them.
My understanding is DC-AC inverters are in the 85-95% efficient range so I guess (?) that's good enough for widespread grid application. Of course we'd need an
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From spaceweather.com:
ANOTHER STRONG SOLAR FLARE: Demonstrating its continued potency, sunspot AR3536 produced another strong flare today. The M4-class explosion peaked on Jan. 4th at 0155 UT, and hurled a streamer of plasma into space:
Extreme ultraviolet radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout over Australia and the surrounding Pacific Ocean. Mariners may have noticed loss of signal at frequencies below 20 MHz for more than 30 minutes after the flare's peak.
The escaping streamer may have formed the core of a CME. Confirmation awaits fresh images from SOHO coronagraphs. Stay tuned. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
POLAR CAP ABSORPTION EVENT: The X5-flare that happened on New Year's Eve is still affecting Earth four days later. A polar cap absorption event (PCA) is underway, shown here in a shortwave radio blackout map from NOAA:
Red zones in this global map show where radio transmissions are being absorbed. Frequencies below 10 MHz are almost completely blacked out, while anything below 35 MHz is being attentuated, at least a little.
What's causing this? Protons accelerated by the New Year's Eve explosion (and subsequent lesser flares from the same sunspot) are hitting our planet. Earth's magnetic field funnels these particles toward the poles where their ionizing effect causes the absorption of shortwave radio. This can affect international aviators flying polar routes.
The absorption event could last for days; you can can monitor its progress here.
ANOTHER STRONG SOLAR FLARE: Demonstrating its continued potency, sunspot AR3536 produced another strong flare today. The M4-class explosion peaked on Jan. 4th at 0155 UT, and hurled a streamer of plasma into space:
Extreme ultraviolet radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout over Australia and the surrounding Pacific Ocean. Mariners may have noticed loss of signal at frequencies below 20 MHz for more than 30 minutes after the flare's peak.
The escaping streamer may have formed the core of a CME. Confirmation awaits fresh images from SOHO coronagraphs. Stay tuned. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
POLAR CAP ABSORPTION EVENT: The X5-flare that happened on New Year's Eve is still affecting Earth four days later. A polar cap absorption event (PCA) is underway, shown here in a shortwave radio blackout map from NOAA:
Red zones in this global map show where radio transmissions are being absorbed. Frequencies below 10 MHz are almost completely blacked out, while anything below 35 MHz is being attentuated, at least a little.
What's causing this? Protons accelerated by the New Year's Eve explosion (and subsequent lesser flares from the same sunspot) are hitting our planet. Earth's magnetic field funnels these particles toward the poles where their ionizing effect causes the absorption of shortwave radio. This can affect international aviators flying polar routes.
The absorption event could last for days; you can can monitor its progress here.
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