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Study warns solar storm risks may be much worse than thought
Researchers say more than 1 million measurements show Earth’s response to solar wind keeps rising, challenging assumptions used to model extreme space weather.
- A NASA-led study published in Nature challenges decades of scientific consensus, finding that the upper limit to Earth's response to solar storms is an "illusion" caused by measurement uncertainty, with findings indicating solar storms could have "far worse" effects on technology than previously thought.
- For decades, scientists believed electric currents in Earth's upper atmosphere reached a ceiling as solar wind strengthened, with observations consistently showing currents increased to a point then leveled off, establishing what researchers thought was a natural limit.
- Using over a million measurements from NASA spacecraft near Earth, the team discovered the apparent limit was a measurement artifact; prior observations from Lagrange point one captured weaker solar winds due to natural decay, revealing a continuous relationship between solar wind strength and atmospheric currents.
- While Earth's magnetic field typically produces only minor glitches or aurora, Walach explained that extreme events cause satellites to unexpectedly fall back to Earth and loss of GPS signals, with solar storms already disrupting communications and triggering power outages.
- Sivadas stated that probability theory suggests space weather risks have been systematically underestimated; if no upper limit exists, Walach warned, extreme case modeling must evolve and society should remain vigilant about one-in-a-thousand-year storm scenarios.
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39 Articles
39 Articles
On the basis of previous measurement data, it was thought that there is an upper limit for consequences of a solar storm. However, such a one apparently does not exist at all.
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources39
Leaning Left5Leaning Right8Center19Last UpdatedBias Distribution59% Center
Bias Distribution
- 59% of the sources are Center
59% Center
L 16%
C 59%
R 25%
Factuality
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