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.”
“The internet has come of age during a time when the sun has been relatively quiet, and now it’s entering a more active time,” said Professor Peter Becker of George Mason University. “It’s the first time in human history that there’s been an intersection of increased solar activity with our dependence on the internet and our global economic dependence on the internet.”
Becker is the lead investigator on a project with the school and the Naval Research Laboratory to create an early warning system.
NORTHERN LIGHTS ACTIVITY TO INCREASE, INCLUDE AURORAS FURTHER SOUTH DUE TO INCREASING SUN ACTIVITY
File: A solar flare erupting on March 3, 2023. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, and which is colorized in orange. (Solar Dynamics Observatory / NASA)
What can a solar super storm do to Earth?
“There have been a lot…
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