Breakthrough in Predicting Solar Storms

Most of us live our lives ignorant of space weather. But the conditions beyond our atmosphere have the potential to dramatically affect our daily existence.

Of course our Sun has the most dramatic influence on space weather. Solar flares and other solar surface features can cause outflows of charged particles that can adversely effect everything from telecommunications satellites to, in extreme cases, entire power grids on the ground.

Historically, there have been times when massive solar storms have caused electrical devices to operate absent of electricity (as the considerable charged particle flux induced a current in the device).

Such a storm today could have devastating effects for our infrastructure, so NASA and the government have been taking steps to ensure that we are prepared should the Sun release an abnormally high volume of particles. And now researchers believe they have taken one step closer to that goal.

In a press release NASA drew a parallel with predicting space weather with predicting hurricanes. Imagine being able to predict the path and severity of an approaching storm weeks in advance.

While meteorology is not able to make such predictions, we may be able to achieve similar results with solar storms. Apparently, it is possible to "see" sunspots on the Sun before they are visible to the human eye.

This is important because sunspots are the precursor to solar flares and other coronal mass ejections. Having the ability to predict when these events will happen, by monitoring the sunspot activity, could give us enough time to prepare our power grids for the incoming flux. This could save us from significant, and extended, power outages and loss of communications and GPS satellites.

This is only the first step in creating an early warning system to stave off the threat of a massive solar flare, but it is an important step; one that could potentially save trillions of dollars in the long term.

Image Credit: NASA