The Carrington Event

On September 1 in 1859 something devastating occurred on our planet. A solar coronal mass ejection from the sun hit the Earth squarely in the teeth and created the largest geomagnetic storm on record. This event was named for a British scientist, Richard Carrington, who observed the flare beginning on the sun and then studied the world-wide after effects. Because of this gigantic solar flare, aurorae were seen around the world as far south as Cuba in the Caribbean Sea. The only electrical operations at the time were telegraph systems, which promptly failed and many reports of sparks and fire arcing from the circuits were recorded. The Aurorae continued for three days and were so bright that many people reported they could easily read a newspaper in the middle of the night. So, what would happen if a large flare hit us in these modern and technological times? In 1989 the Canadian province of Quebec was without power for a half a day after a smaller solar storm hit the Earth. In 2012 a solar storm at least as large as the 1859 event erupted on the sun, but the flare missed the planet. These days if we were hit again, all radio communications would fail and unprotected astronauts in the space station would be in danger. GPS systems, cell phones and all satellite communications would be affected. Most vulnerable would be power grids and the storm surge could blow out large electric transformers. These transformers are difficult to replace and could prolong the effects of such a storm for days and weeks. Imagine no electrical power to do anything, to heat and cool, to light and power stores and factories, no TV and radio and no connection through cell phones and the Internet. So, are we doomed? With adequate warning by sun monitoring satellites we have the ability to forecast dangerous solar storms. With an advance warning we could turn off electrical grids for the short time that the storm will be most powerful. Satellites could be put into a sleep mode until the danger has passed. While potentially catastrophic, we could survive a large solar flare like the one in 1859. Our sun is the source of light and heat for our planet; but we understand that it can get a little cranky once in a while. We just need to keep an eye on the sky for future danger. (Below, Frederic Edwin Church’s 1865 painting “Aurora Borealis.” Some speculate that Church took his inspiration from the Great Auroral Storm of 1859.)