Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
storms that have occurred within relatively recent history. There is a huge body of data pertain-
ing to the electromagnetic effects of at least twenty-one different aboveground nuclear detona-
tions, ranging in size from 10 kilotons to 10 megatons (for comparison, the effective size of the
nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were estimated at 13 kilotons and 21 kilo-
tons, respectively), and burst heights from 90 to 500 kilometers. As for geomagnetic storms,
from the 1850s to today, there are records of roughly one hundred significant solar storms.
The more significant of these events include the 1989 geomagnetic solar storm that induced
huge electric currents that fried a major power transformer in the HydroQuebec system, caus-
ing a cascading grid failure that knocked out power to 6 million customers for nine hours; a
May 1921 solar super storm that produced ground currents roughly ten times as strong as the
Quebec incident; and the 1859 great-granddaddy solar storm of recorded history known as “the
Carrington Event.” It is important that we understand something about these potential events
and their effects on critical components in the big machine that keeps our technological world
running smoothly, so that we might prepare ahead of time to cope with their consequences.
This chapter outlines what might happen during such an event, how to plan and prepare ahead
of time to cope and survive if such an event should ever occur, and how best to respond once
such an event has actually taken place.
The Super Solar Storm of May 1921
Hundreds of newspapers, in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, reported on the un-
usually brilliant and far-reaching aurora displays on the night of May 14-15, 1921. This great
geomagnetic storm affected the Northern Hemisphere as far south as Mexico and Puerto Rico,
and the Southern Hemisphere as far north as Samoa. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, the aurora was
described as, “The Sky in the north was brightly alight and filled with a golden haze. Five great
bars of extra brightness, extending from the horizon to the zenith, starting from a common axis,
with diverging arcs about equal, extended through the golden haze and gave a wonderful ef-
fect.” In other parts of the world, closer to either of the earth's poles, the aurora was described
as “pulsating,” “crimson,” “a strange green phosphorescence like wreaths, clouds, and odd
shapes,” and in a host of other ways (Silverman 2001).
Except for the tropical latitudes, telegraph communications around the world were disrup-
ted during this solar storm, fuses were blown, the relatively crude electronic equipment of the
day behaved quite erratically, and the Central New England railroad station in Brewster, New
York, was burned to the ground by a fire that started in the station's telegraph due to currents
