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Every 100 years or so, normally harmless electromagnetic particles from the sun conjure a major solar storm. With the potential to damage electrical grids and undersea cables, scientists are concerned the next may cause a global ‘internet apocalypse’.
In 2021, seeing Wi-Fi signal drop off in the lower corner of a desktop is enough to send anyone spiralling into despair.
Now, if it isn’t too painful, imagine that scenario unfolding on a global scale, afflicting entire countries with internet blackouts for months on end.
Unfortunately, we’re not describing the plot of the next low-budget Netflix horror. In reality, that hellish prospect isn’t beyond the realms of possibility according to research presented at SIGCOMM 2021, a leading communication tech conference in New York.
Science has long known that the Earth is constantly being bombarded by electromagnetic particles from the sun. Thanks to our magnetic field, this usually amounts to such particles flowing off harmlessly to the planet’s poles leaving behind nothing but colourful shimmering auras.
However, every 80 to 100 years or so into the sun’s natural life cycle, solar winds escalate and transform into a full blown solar storm.
1/ A global Internet outage lasting weeks! Can that happen?
My paper "Solar Superstorms: Planning for an Internet Apocalypse" at #SIGCOMM'21 takes the first look at an important problem that the networking community had been overlooking until now: https://t.co/GROp6hf97c
— Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi (@sangeetha_a_j) July 29, 2021
With only a handful of previous instances recorded in human history, there’s reportedly between a 1.6% and 12% chance of such an extreme space weather event occurring during each decade.
It just so happens most modern technological advances have coincided with periods of weak solar activity. Many are now asking, what happens if our luck runs out?
We’re already in the grips a climate crisis entirely of our own making here on Earth, I’d say we’ve probably got enough on our plate right now.
Surprisingly, a raging sun storm isn’t much of a direct threat to our physical health, per say, but more so has the potential to have devastating impacts on our technology infrastructures – specifically, the internet fibre lines and submarine cables that keep most of the world connected.
