Solar superstorm could 'wipe out the internet' for weeks or months, scientist says

Professor Peter Becker is working with a team whose goal is to create an early warning system for dangerous solar activity that could damage critical technology.

We may marvel at the Northern Lights, but that same solar storm energy could one day create what one researcher described as an "internet apocalypse."

<---------->

Becker is the lead investigator on a project with the school and the Naval Research Laboratory to create an early warning system.

<----------------->

Becker said predicting solar storms is like predicting earthquakes – we just don't have control over the situation. He said that the odds are about 10% that over the next decade, "something really large is going to happen that could potentially wipe out the internet."
How can we protect electronics?

So he and his team are watching the sun and modeling flares. Flares, he said, reach Earth in 8 minutes. That sets the clock ticking for the possible magnetic field disruption in 18 to 24 hours.

"If we have a warning, every minute counts because you can put satellites in safe mode. You can take transformers off-line from the grid, so they don't fry," Becker said. "So there's things you can do to mitigate the problem. And then, more long term, you're talking about hardening the internet. And that's, of course, an economic challenge because it's sort of like an insurance policy. You may never need it, and it would cost trillions to really harden the system."

To read much more go to https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/solar-storm-wipe-out-internet

---