Where will the 90-second solar storm hit in 20 12?

~. Let's be clear first. It's 20 12 12. Solar storms occur all over the world. First, you can't go out. You can't go to school. You can't work. To prevent excessive radiation! But if the sun shakes too much, we may end everyone's life in 90 seconds, and not just the solar storm. It's hard to say what disaster there is. Look at the news below!

How much did the solar storm in 20 12 affect the earth?

"The warning of American scientists is not alarmist, but based on the conclusion of scientific research. Around 20 12, it is the 22-week peak year of solar activity. However, there is absolutely no need for us to panic. "

-The British "New Scientist" website published an article saying that in 20 12 years, the earth will probably be hit by a super solar storm.

"In 20 12 years, the earth will encounter a strong super solar storm, and its destructive power will far exceed that of Hurricane Katrina, and almost everyone on the earth will not escape its catastrophic impact." Recently, such a "sensational" article appeared on the website of New Scientist in Britain.

The article writes that at midnight on September 22nd, 20 12, a colorful light curtain will cover Manhattan, new york, USA. In southern areas like new york, few people can see this extremely fascinating aurora phenomenon. After a few seconds, all the light bulbs in the area began to dim and flicker, and then the light suddenly increased in an instant, and the light bulbs became extremely bright. Then, all the lights went out. In 90 seconds, the whole eastern United States will be blacked out. In a year's time, millions of Americans will begin to die, and the national infrastructure will be in ruins. The World Bank will announce that the United States has become a developing country. At the same time, Europe, China, Japan and other regions or countries are also struggling in this disaster like the United States.

This article on the website of New Scientist is based on a special report on the 20 12 solar storm published by the National Academy of Sciences in June 2009. The final conclusion of the report is that such a disaster is entirely possible.

Can a solar storm cause such a great loss to human beings on earth? Is 20 12 really "the end of the world"?

"The warning of American scientists is not alarmist, but based on the conclusion of scientific research. Around 20 12, it is the 22-week peak year of solar activity. However, there is absolutely no need for us to panic. " Researcher Wang Huaning from the Key Laboratory of Solar Activities of the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences told Beijing Science and Technology News.

1962, the American Mariner 2 probe discovered for the first time that the sun would have a flare explosion (commonly known as a solar storm) at the peak of sunspot activity. Later, scientists found that the solar storm is a high-speed particle flow formed by the sun's own activities strengthened by the increase of energy, thus releasing a large number of charged particles into the vast space. Usually every 1 1 year will enter an active period of solar storms.

"Every 1 1 year, the sun will enter a peak year of activity, and it will throw out a lot of substances, just like sneezing, making the earth1.500 million kilometers away catch a cold." Researcher Wang Huaning said. According to the X-ray intensity of solar flares, solar flares can be divided into five levels: A, B, C, M and X.

Researcher Wang Huaning said that in fact, the impact of solar storms on human beings has always existed, but in recent years, with the development of science and technology, the scale of high-tech systems established by human beings has become larger and larger, and the dependence on these systems has become higher and higher. These systems are more and more sensitive to the changes of the surrounding environment, so the disaster events of technical systems will have more and more influence on human society.

-China scientists believe that at present, human beings can't give a relatively accurate forecast of solar activity.

However, will there be a super storm stronger than any previous solar storm in 20 12 years?

Researcher Wang Ninghua believes that from the accumulated solar observation data, human beings can effectively predict the long-term change of solar activity and the short-term activity level of the sun. However, according to the current scientific level, it is difficult for scientists to accurately predict the time and intensity of solar storms. Solar activity forecast, especially severe solar activity forecast, is still the most difficult part of space weather forecast. The reason is that scientists can only indirectly measure many physical parameters in the solar atmosphere through remote sensing. These indirectly measured parameters can only describe the physical state of the solar atmosphere qualitatively, so they can't give a relatively accurate forecast of solar activity. "So, the solar storm that will happen around 20 12 is super strong and lacks scientific basis."

In the report on the website of New Scientist, American experts pointed out that in the event of a particularly serious solar storm, the power transmission network will become very fragile and unstable, or even completely shut down, except for satellites and GPS positioning systems. It may also lead to "traffic paralysis, communication interruption, financial industry collapse and public facilities chaos, interruption of drinking water supply due to pump stop, lack of refrigeration equipment, and difficulty in effectively preserving food and medicine".

"Not all solar storms will have an impact on the earth." Only when the storm area on the sun happens to face the earth can solar storms be "blown" to the earth, producing such great power.

Researcher Wang Huaning said: "The X-rays in the solar storm hit the earth at the speed of light. The increase of x-rays will greatly increase the electron density in the ionosphere of the earth's atmosphere, seriously interfere with short-wave radio communication, and even lead to the interruption of radio communication. "

Will the solar storm of -2065 438+02 also destroy China's power grid?

At about 3 pm on June 20, 2005, a solar storm with magnitude of X7.9 occurred in the sun. Affected by this solar storm, the short-wave radio signals of China's communication, broadcasting, measurement and other systems were immediately absorbed by the ionosphere, thus being interrupted, and the signal in Beijing was interrupted for more than an hour.

In addition, another important impact of solar storms on the earth is that they will lead to magnetic storms, which will have an impact on the power supply system. 1March, 989 13, a strong magnetic storm at the peak of the 22-week solar activity severely impacted the power grid in Quebec, Canada, causing the power supply system in Quebec to be paralyzed, and more than 6 million people spent nine hours in the winter without electricity. Moreover, the strong magnetic storm also destroyed the giant transformer of a nuclear power plant in New Jersey, USA, and a large number of power grid equipment such as transmission lines, transformers and static compensators tripped or were damaged.

Then, will the solar storm in 20 12 also destroy China's power grid, thus plunging us into darkness? "When the solar storm occurred in 20 12, China would not have a large-scale power grid paralysis as serious as Quebec in 1989." Professor Liu Lianguang from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of North China Electric Power University told Beijing Science and Technology News affirmatively.

Professor Liu Lianguang, who has studied the influence of solar storm on power grid for more than 10 years, pointed out that according to the research of Chinese and foreign scientists, the magnetic storm produced by solar storm has a great influence on the power supply system in high latitudes, which may cause extreme damage such as power supply system paralysis, but for China in middle and high latitudes, the influence of magnetic storm can be said to be not too serious.

However, Professor Liu Lianguang told reporters that in recent years, many incidents caused by magnetic storms have been found in some long-distance transmission systems and large power grids in China, which can be said to sound the alarm for the safety and impact prevention of China's power supply system.

"The development and construction of power grid should be planned according to the country's economic development and power demand. At present, some long-term power grid planning still stays on the drawings, and it is too late to consider the influence of magnetic storms. There are many technologies and methods to prevent and control the influence of magnetic storms, but these methods and technologies can not be used immediately and need to do a lot of work. Now we should study some problems. " Professor Liu Lianguang said