Heat on to stop solar tsunami 'disaster'
They have the power of a million Hiroshima bombs and the potential to destroy modern life - this isn't modern warfare, it's a solar tsunami, as a University of Sheffield expert explained to Star reporter Rachael Clegg.
IT COULD leave us without electricity for up to 10 years. It would disrupt all telecommunications and cause all satellites to malfunction.
And, while this may sound like a modern-day version of Revelations, it is in fact reality.
At least, that's according to Professor Robertus von Fay-Siebenburgen, whose research is based on the energy potential and effects of tsunamis.
But these tsunamis aren't here on Earth - they occur 149.6 million kilometres away, on the soaringly hot 5,505 centigrade Sun.
Here, huge high speed jets called spicules burst towards the Sun's surface like spectacular, enormous water fountains.
These spicules measure 100 to 500 kilometres in diameter and up to 40,000 kilometres in height.
It is this phenomena that Prof Robertus and the department of Applied Mathematics at The University of Sheffield, along with members of the Solar Wave Theory Group and the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre, have been studying for more than three years.
"These spicules have the power of a million Hiroshima bombs," says Prof Robertus. "And every second there are 50,000 to 60,000 of these ejected on the Sun."
The enormous amount of energy generated by these colossal explosions is phenomenal. "We just need to know how to harvest this power," says Prof Robertus.
The implications of Prof Robertus' research into the potential of solar tsunamis as a energy source are such that he and his team were invited to present their research to an audience of politicians from the House of Commons and House of Lords after being selected by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee.
But Prof Robertus' solar tsunami research is two-pronged.
Solar tsunamis may offer huge potential as a renewable energy source, but they also threaten the very infrastructure of the modern world.
Driven by magnetic force, these spicules sometimes leave the Sun's surface and shoot into inter-planetary space. When this happens they are referred to as coronal mass ejections.
"These CMEs are enormous - sometimes much bigger than Earth - and they travel at several thousand kilometres per second," he says. "This massive amount of matter propagates into inter planetary space and heats the Earth's atmosphere. That's why we see the Northern Lights."
But it's not all pretty light displays.
"When these electrically-charged particles hit the Earth's atmosphere telecommunications can go down and, when this happens, watching TV, calling your friend, and using your mobile phone become impossible."
This was precisely the case more than 20 years ago, when a huge CME wiped out Quebec's electricity in just 59 seconds.
The region was without electricity for eight hours, and workers on late shifts were left stranded in darkness throughout lift shafts, corridors and offices across Montreal. In Toronto people were left without heating in temperatures as low as minus six.
Traffic signals were down, there were no lights, and Canada's airports were at standstill due to a failure of navigation systems. The effect of the CME, although only temporary, had a profound effect on Canada's infrastructure.
There have been worse, however.
The year 1859 witnessed the biggest 'super' space storm in recorded history. British astronomer Richard Carrington observed a huge solar flare, which led to a colossal CME that hit the Earth's atmosphere in just 18 hours.
Telegraph lines were cut off across Europe and North America, and the huge current that surged through an electrical grid system in its infancy caused fires across the globe.
Spectacular aurora displays typically associated with the North and South Poles were seen in Rome, Hawaii, and parts of the US. But in 1859 the telegraph was a relatively new invention - only 15 years old. If a CME of that size were to hit the Earth today it would have a devastating effect. In Prof Robertus' words: "That was 150 years ago. If an explosion like that happened today it would kick out the electric grid on Earth for two to 10 years.
"Just imagine, if a thing happens today it will not be millions affected but billions. If you have currents caused by a CME then our grid system will close down because it cannot take these huge electric charges."
Most concerning is that an event like this is not a remote possibility.
"We really have to be very careful," says Prof Robertus. "This happened 150 years ago - not millions of years ago. If that happens today and we don't react quickly then we have a problem."
Preventing the potential cataclysms caused by a huge CME is simple.
"It wouldn't have to cost much. So what we need to do is we need to predict - it only takes a few hours for these highly charged particles to arrive at the Earth's atmosphere. We see this phenomena developing on the earth and we need to get people to close satellite shutters.
"We need to close the satellite when these events take place. If they close the shutters it's like if you were to have a tornado you would seal off your house."
He adds: "The current thinking is that you would also have to shut down the main electricity grids in the civilised parts of the world. If you don't shut it down it will kick off the high currents and they will simply burn down the grid stations."
It would be a universal blackout. All systems would be shut down and, albeit temporarily, the world would be forced to revert to life without electricity or telecommunications.
But failure to react could be devastating.
"Imagine if you didn't have electricity for just three, four, five days?" says Prof Robertus. "We already have a problem if we have a few inches of snow in Sheffield. Imagine if you had no electricity at all."
FACTFILE
As much as 99.9 per cent of the Sun is made of plasma, the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gas. Plasma is caused when gas is heated to extremely high temperatures, up to a few thousand degrees Centigrade.
Once the plasma is hot enough, a process called 'fusion' begins.
Scientists have developed a way of generating plasma in laboratories, using a device known as the Tokamak, but this plasma lasts only a few seconds, whereas the Sun is able to create plasma that lasts millions of years.
Plasma can also be magnetised, driven by an electro-magnetic force which causes plasma to shoot out as jets. These jets can cause massive waves on the Sun, known as solar tsunamis.
NASA has developed a twin spacecraft known as the STEREO - Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory - that can observe solar tsunamis.
To watch a film of a solar tsunami log on to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7326097.stm
Got a view? Leave a comment below.
Follow The Star on Twitter and Facebook:
For breaking news and sport follow The Star on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sheffieldstar and Facebook at www.facebook.com/sheffieldstar.
JOIN THE STAR READER PANEL: The Star is YOUR newspaper, so tell us what you think about it and what you want to see - CLICK HERE.
Don't miss our daily pull-outs - only in the The Star: Monday Star Sport, Tuesday Class Act; Wednesday Business; Thursday Grassroots; Friday Time Out; Saturday Retro. Subscribe to The Star - CLICK HERE
READ MORE
Join the Star reader panel
Main news index
Your letters
Features
South Yorkshire's environmental news
Kids Zone
More business news
More Rotherham news
More Doncaster news
More Barnsley news
Latest sport
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy snow
Temperature: -2 C to -0 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: West
