A big solar storm, which happens once during a century, could submerge the world into a “Internet apocalypse,” forcing large swarms of users offline for weeks or even months.
The Earth is continually jettisoned by electromagnetic particles from the Sun. These particles – which form the solar wind – are usually sent to the poles that reside by the Earth’s magnetic barrier which protects it from actual damage. This solar wind manifests into a full-fledged solar storm approximately around every 100 years, according to researchers, which could bring significant repercussions for modern civilization.
Current technological growth corresponded with a period of low solar activity, and the Sun is projected to become more active in the near future, according to a study by Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi of the University of California, Irvine.
Researchers predict that the probability of the Earth to be directly harmed by space weather extremities is between 1.6 and 12 percent in the next decade. According to the study, even in the event of a huge solar storm, regional internet infrastructure will be relatively unaffected by damage since optical fiber is not impacted by geomagnetically induced currents.
Long undersea cables, on the other hand, pose a greater risk. If a solar storm intercepts a number of these cables, it could result in a connectivity outage spread among countries even if local infrastructure remains untouched.
“Our infrastructure is not prepared for a large-scale solar event. We have very limited understanding of what the extent of the damage would be,” Abdu Jyothi told the Wired.
The pandemic and the world’s lack of preparedness to deal with a global calamity prompted questions surrounding internet resilience.
The Earth will have around a 13 hour window to prepare for a strong solar storm, he added. In recent history, just two such storms have been recorded: in 1859 and 1921.
