GoKawiilIn 1989, the Canadian region of Quebec experienced something that likely shocked many of its residents: the Sun knocked out its power grid. Caused by a geomagnetic storm, the resulting blackout made six million people lose power for nine hours. Known as 'the day the sun brought darkness,' the blackout is emblematic of both the potential effects of solar activity on modern technologies and our relative unpreparedness for a major solar storm.
Solar storms are caused by magnetic reconnection, a process in which the Sun's rotation forces its magnetic fields to twist and knot. As it undergoes its 11 year cycle, the pressure from these fields mounts. Eventually, these magnetic fields break and rejoin, whereby energy and plasma explode from the Sun's surface into the solar system. Although invisible to the naked eye, solar storms can have a profound effect on Earth's magnetic fields. And while the phenomenon is responsible for the aurora borealis, it can also wreak havoc on our technological infrastructure.
These eruptions cause three types of solar storms. Solar flares are intense explosions of light and radiation. Capable of producing energy equal to a billion hydrogen bombs, solar flares travel at the speed of light, hitting the Earth's atmosphere in just eight minutes. Radiation storms, meanwhile, are eruptions of charged particles that blast through the solar system, reaching Earth in just half an hour. The largest, coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, are massive clouds of magnetized plasma. Each of these solar events can disturb the Earth's magnetic field to cause geomagnetic storms that threaten power grids, disrupt communications systems and even down global internet infrastructure.