It is regarded as the most extreme fifth -level daily coronal material (referred to as CME, commonly known as the solar storm), which attacked the earth for several days on May 10.The most powerful storm over 20 years has caused some satellite and transmission networks to be disturbed.The solar storm is the phenomenon that the sun releases a large number of plasma and magnetic fields from the daily corona, which impaches the earth's phenomenon.In addition to the astronomical scene similar to Aurora, storms have caused potential threats that cannot be ignored for the infrastructure of modern civilization, especially the power supply network of various countries.Although the threat of the solar storm is no less than that of the giant meteorite of space, or climate warming has led to rising sea planes, it has not received enough attention so far.
The last solar storm at the same level occurred in October 2003, called the "Halloween Day Incident".At that time, the impact of the storm caused power outages in Sweden and the power infrastructure of South Africa.The solar storm in 1989 was paralyzed by the Canadian Quebec regional grid, which led to about 6 million people in Canada and the United States for nine hours.When the storm attacks the earth, it will violently disturb the earth's magnetic field and generate inductive potential on the surface. Long -distance conductive equipment on the ground will generate a ground magnetic induction current (referred to as GIC), causing the transformer to overheat, and the transformer is paralyzed in severe cases.
The modern civilization is highly developed, and it is seriously dependent on power supply. Therefore, the toughness of power grids around the world is related to the survival of civilization.From ordering to installation, it takes two or three years to replace a large -scale high -voltage transformer at a power station. If the solar storm damage hundreds of major variables at once, the world economy may face the risk of shutdown.However, because the probability is not high enough, this potential risk has not received enough attention so far.A 2017 research report from the University of Cambridge pointed out that the potential economic loss of the solar storm paralysis power grid is the most serious as high as 41.5 billion US dollars per day (about S $ 56.2 billion).
This solar storm only interferes with individual social media and game websites, as well as satellite radio channels.However, this also increases the luck of governments in various countries, and paralyzed the vigilance and action.In the 11 -year Sun Kuroko cycle, the average of four extreme storms occurred in the long -term and inevitable threat to the earth.With the digitalization of the economy, the society's dependence on power supply is deep; the development of satellite communication technology is particularly increasing the vulnerability of civilization.Star Chain owner Musk, who has about 6,000 low -orbital commercial satellites, warned on the 11th that the solar storm weakened the quality of the star chain.
Compared to the natural risks of threatening civilization, such as climate warming and giant space meteorites attacking the earth, people's awareness of the risk of solar storms is obviously insufficient.For such risks, the cost of strengthening global grid toughness is not high.The cost of high -voltage transformer is from $ 2 million to $ 7.5 million. Compared with the possible consequences and costs, the cost performance is undoubtedly nine cattle.Because the scientific community is still controversial about the risk assessment, the governments of various countries lack motivation to solve problems.Especially for the election government, no problem of burning eyebrows will not be valued.
Including environmental disputes such as climate warming, although folk public opinion has been rushing, it is difficult to see the method of response because of the huge cost of cost and difficult to see in the short term.At present, many democratic society faces the challenges of political polarization, and many topics are difficult to obtain basic consensus; the threats such as solar storms that need to be dealt with for long -term political vision must be placed on the political agenda.However, the sunshine cycle is an objective fact that you cannot sit and ignore it.
This solar storm allows more people to see the gorgeous light outside the Arctic Circle, and social media have appeared in the image of the people from different angles, and various amazing reactions.But people ignore the huge potential risks behind this astronomical scene.It is hoped that governments of various countries can take risks carefully, make investment and preparation as soon as possible, and strengthen the toughness of vulnerable modern civilization.
