Could Solar Storms in 2012 Cause a Solar EMP?

TheSurvivalMom blog ^ | October 4, 2010 | TheSurvivalMom

[ChocChipCookie]

There are a number of links in this article that aren't included in this Freeper post, including a couple of sources for the solar storm info. It seems that these solar storms are a for-sure thing.

I don't buy into that 2012/Mayan calendar rubbish, but it's very strange that these storms will coincide with their calendar.

Also, I should mention that the author of this article has a blog, http://sustainingfarm.blogspot.com/

[Pearls Before Swine]

I don’t buy it. Extreme solar storms may mess up the power grid by inducing imbalances which foul up the HV transformers, but they won’t erase all data in all backup locations, nor will they reach EMP levels and wreck all electronics.

[evets]

#7. Stock up on tin foil..

#8. Don't forget to protect your pets.

[r9etb]

Yes. Or No. Maybe. We’re all gonna die!

[JRandomFreeper]

The sign on my metal shop building with metal doors is "Faraday's Cage. Heisenberg may or may not have stayed here"

I'm betting most of the stuff in my shop (not attached to the grid) will be just fine, even in the case of a nuke induced EMP.

/johnny

[yesca]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd-cCeaKrOA

[davisfh]

"...my metal shop building with metal doors..."

If you'd like for your metal building to serve as a Faraday Cage/screen room, make sure that the metal roof and doors are electrically bonded together and then run ground straps from the building's lower sides to grounding stakes driven into the ground. That would likely save all electrical equipment in the building and, if you have an electrical generator, would probably spare that as well. You'll probably be depending on the generator for quite some time until the electrical grid is restored - a year or two maybe??

[JRandomFreeper]

As a long-time ham operator, I did all of that when I was a kid, back in the early '70s. It makes testing and calibrating some RF equipment much easier when you don't have to deal with noise. EMP protection is just a by-product. ;)

/johnny

[SonsOfCollins_Wallace]

It matter NOTHING if a building or whatever is connected to the power grid. If it is then the items connected are cooked.
However your metal building being disconnected is good IF it is fully metalized AND grounded AND has the windows covered in metal “ mesh” to absorbed the atmospheric electric charge generated by the EMP.
It is the atmospheric charge generated by the EMP that cooks whatever is sensitive (not able to handle excessive current) to currents beyond their designed capacity.
Any electronic device - ANY today-built/solid-state devices will be cooked dead if they are exposed to such currents. If said devices are in a Faraday cage/structure they would survive if not connected/on an insulated structure.

It bears reading the recent book “One Second After” to get a well defined picture of how any modern society will fair in such an event regardless of the source of the EMP event.

1986 Ontario/Quebec power grid failure and US 1858?? events where fence wire was hot-to-touch/burned the posts and large sections of telegraph system was destroyed illustrates what happens from a “small” scale EMP.

If the area the event effects is multi-country/continent then the recovery time will be long and filled with many dead people - whole sections of a society are venerable to the effects. Cars built after 1972 (Chrysler introduced electronic ignition in 1973, Ford & GMC later) will be dead and not coming back to life without a complete system replacement. Some automotive batteries and deepcycle batteries with photovoltaic units (they will be toast) will cook-off and land line telephones will go down.
Planet-wide societies today are so dependent on electrical/electronic devices that ANY replacement equipment will not be available for 9+months or years.
Therein is the main reason to have a society-wide effort to build in some safety-factors now.

[davisfh]

I'm not into ham radio but did spend the closing years of my AF career in the PME (Precision Measurement Equipment) field and, from time to time, had access to screen rooms. I saw several different types, the most elaborate being one made with what appeared to be bronze walls, ceiling and floor, the simplest being a room framed up with two-by-fours and completely covered with copper screen wire and grounded. That one was in what appeared to be an old warehouse.

And, you're right. These things create an eerily quiet electronic world and make calibration and servicing of electronics very easy.

[SonsOfCollins_Wallace]

Like I indicated in my previous post, if the area is large enough - multi-country/continental - then the power grid will not be up for several years (more than 2) due to no equipment available to rebuild it with and no means to get equipment to the places that need repairs.

The disruptions to any society will be enormous and causing millions of deaths for various reasons.
Haiti and N.Orleans are good examples of “minimum disruption” compared to what a sizable EMP event will cause.

[pallis]

They could; they would, and maybe someday they will, today, tomorrow or the next day, 2010, 2012, or 3068. Whoop out the flashlight.

[aruanan]

Extreme solar storms may mess up the power grid by inducing imbalances which foul up the HV transformers, but they won’t erase all data in all backup locations, nor will they reach EMP levels and wreck all electronics.

Another one like the one that happened during the neolithic or early bronze age would pretty much wreck all electronics. It made the Carrington Event look like an ordinary solar flare.

[EdReform]

Bump & bookmark

[ChocChipCookie]

I was surprised to learn that even solar panels will be affected by an EMP or coronal mass ejection. They contain electronic panels and are just as vulnerable as anything else electronic.

[ChocChipCookie]

I was surprised to learn that even solar panels will be affected by an EMP or coronal mass ejection. They contain electronic panels and are just as vulnerable as anything else electronic.

[MediaMole]

Solar storms happen all the time. Occasionally, they have a noticeable impact, but generally, they pass without any damage.

This is just more doom and gloom stuff. We’re at a solar minimum right now and the prediction is that by 2012, the sun will be moving to a solar maximum, which has more sunspots, flares and storms.

Even if there was a massive flare, it would have to be directed in the exact point the Earth occupied at the time and it would have to be significantly more powerful than a typical flare.

Can it happen? Yes.

Will it happen in 2012? No one can predict. This is just the scare story of the month.

[ASOC]

LOL

Kinda funny in some ways.

We have an electrical intertie between Anchorage and Fairbanks that sees Geomagnetic Storm induced currrents in the 100s of amperes. The system seems to have no problems.

THere are several large Fiber Optic systems between AK and the L57 that see large voltage flucuations from Geomagnetic Storms. They still work due to the protective equipment built in.

The US is LESS exposed as much of the communications infrastructure is now F/O and not copper. Most comm equipment from major carriers is already ‘hardened’ - so Geomagnetic Storm related issues should be minimal.

More and more major transmission lines are SWER - which have less issues with Geomagnetic Storm induced currents. One major system, for example, runs from Delta UT (IPP) to LA and seems to work just fine.

What is with the “EMP ends civilization as we know it” fixation so many seem to have?

[ChocChipCookie]

This fixation, as you call it, doesn’t seem to be a figment of imagination. Congress was given a lengthy report, just about the same time as the 9/11 report came out, detailing just how vulnerable our system is to an EMP. They don’t seem to think it’s funny.

http://www.empcommission.org/docs/empc_exec_rpt.pdf

[TexasRepublic]

“1. Accumulate a large amount of stored water. Secure a very local water source.”

A more practical solution would be a quality water filter. A company called Berkey (www.berkeyfilters.com/) sells a ceramic filter that will purify 3,000 gallons per replaceable element. I have no affiliation with them, but I may buy one.