The worst solar storm to hit the Earth in commemorate history find in 1859 . Known as the Carrington Event , it render auroras as far south as Cuba and have havoc with the naive electrical scheme of the sentence , generatingfires in telegraphy stations . It ’s estimated that such a big solar storm will come roughly every150 yearsor so . If one of a like magnitude were to hit the Earth now , with a society much more dependent on electronics and applied science , it would undoubtedly have ruinous consequences .
Due to this increasing menace , the White House ’s National Science and Technology Council has released aNational Space Weather Action Plan , in which it details a strategic plan to prepare for an event such as a major solar storm . The written document warns that with electrical systems becoming progressively interconnected , if one were to be ping out , it could have a cascade of system failures . It recommends a federally - coordinated approach to a numeral of operation , from reducing the exposure of those infrastructure deem most at risk , to increasing our forecasting and communication abilities .
The Sun is incessantly discharge charged subatomic particles in the form of solar wind , some of which hit our atmosphere . It is this that do the northerly lights , or auroras , though most of the speck that reach us are deflected by Earth ’s magnetic field . now and then , in particular enceinte flares will burst from the Sun and the particles will make it through our magnetic field . A recent field has guess that there is a12 pct chancethat one of these “ megaflares ” will catch fire within the decade , sending a monolithic solar violent storm our agency .
We ’ve already had a taster of what might fall out if we were struck by a storm , albeit on a much smaller scale . Backin 1989Canada got hit by solar storm that create a power surge on the electric grid . Within90 secondsthis make the shut - down of Hydro - Québec ’s electric system , leave millions without baron for nine hour . If this were to happen on a much grander scale of measurement , the damage would be huge .
One estimation suggest that if a tempest the sizing of the Carrington Event were to hit today , the cost of the clean - up in the U.S. alone would be somewhere between$1 - 2 trillion(£657 billion to £ 1.3 trillion ) during the first class , with a recovery that could take up to a decade . Every aspect of our biography would be impacted , from conveyance , communicating , banking and government , as we live in an increasingly electronic world .
In fact the danger is so great that the European Space Agency is also working on itsown admonition systemusing scientists circularize across 14 rural area across Europe . At the moment there is n’t in reality much we can do if a storm were to strike , except warn the necessary party of the incoming threat , who could then make preparations , such as shutting down relevant systems to determine the potential damage .
