| Strong geomagnetic storms expected in next couple of days
According to spaceweather.com, two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are heading toward Earth. These could set-off strong geomagnetic storms when they arrive between January 18th and 19th. Geomagnetic storms pose a potential threat to power supplies and other aspects of critical infrastructure. Many portions of the North American power grid are vulnerable to geomagnetic storms. During the great geomagnetic storm of March 13th, 1989, the entire Hydro Quebec system was blacked out as a result and most of Hydro Quebec's neighbouring systems in the United States came close to experiencing the same sort of outage. (Source: American Geophysical Union) Other consequences of geomagnetic storm activity can include pipeline corrosion, the shutdown of cable systems, an increased drag on satellites and inaccurate navigational sensors. (Source: SpaceRef.com)
•Date:
18th January 2005 • Region: N.AmericaWorld •Type:
Article •Topic:
BC general |
