Weathering the Worst Solar Storms
Abstract
When the last really big solar storm hit in 1921, Earth’s magnetic field funneled a wave of electrically charged particles toward the ground, where they induced a current along telegraph lines and railroad tracks, setting to telegraph offices and train stations—and the fledgling electric grid went dark. Almost a century later, today’s grid is bigger, more interconnected, and even more susceptible to a solar storm disaster. Los Alamos National Laboratory is developing a scientific analysis about how frequently a major geomagnetic storm might strike, which regions of the country are most vulnerable, and how bad it might be. This analysis is part of a plan to support electric utility companies and government regulators in taking the necessary steps to spare us all from the nightmare of days, weeks, or even months without power.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1347724
- Resource Type:
- Multimedia
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY; LANL; ELECTRIC GRID; SOLAR STORMS; SPACE WEATHER DATA
Citation Formats
. Weathering the Worst Solar Storms. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web.
. Weathering the Worst Solar Storms. United States.
. Wed .
"Weathering the Worst Solar Storms". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1347724.
@article{osti_1347724,
title = {Weathering the Worst Solar Storms},
author = {},
abstractNote = {When the last really big solar storm hit in 1921, Earth’s magnetic field funneled a wave of electrically charged particles toward the ground, where they induced a current along telegraph lines and railroad tracks, setting to telegraph offices and train stations—and the fledgling electric grid went dark. Almost a century later, today’s grid is bigger, more interconnected, and even more susceptible to a solar storm disaster. Los Alamos National Laboratory is developing a scientific analysis about how frequently a major geomagnetic storm might strike, which regions of the country are most vulnerable, and how bad it might be. This analysis is part of a plan to support electric utility companies and government regulators in taking the necessary steps to spare us all from the nightmare of days, weeks, or even months without power.},
doi = {},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {3}
}