Space Weather – Science Fiction or a Real Threat?

The following is a guest post by Kate Von Holle, Senior Policy Advisor for Science and Innovation at the British Embassy in Washington.

Space weather sounds like something you would hear about in a Michael Bay movie. At least that was my first impression, or maybe something along the lines of a space hurricane. Instead I was mildly surprised to learn that space weather is essentially the cosmic equivalent of a sun storm: radiation thrown off by the sun during Coronal Mass Ejections—or CMEs—that travels through space and sometimes reaches Earth.

To avoid being alarmist, I should point out that these events happen all the time, but they don’t often rise to the level where it would affect us here on Earth.

According to NASA, Coronal Mass Ejections occur at a rate of a few times a week to several times per day, depending on how active the sun may be. One of the nice (and visible) effects of space weather is auroras, best-known as the Northern Lights in this hemisphere and the Southern Lights down under.
But the sun has cycles, much like our seasons but on a yearly scale, and every few years it reaches its peak activity. When this happens, we are more likely to have a CME which could potentially hit earth and cause problems (or in NASA-speak, “influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems, and endanger human life or health.”)

The Carrington event of 1859 is the largest known recorded major space weather event, named after a British astronomer Richard Carrington who “witnessed” a massive solar flare while projecting the Sun onto a white screen (much like you do in elementary school nowadays – my how science has progressed!) That event apparently electrified telegraph lines, shocking telegraph operators and setting papers on fire in their offices. A major event, were one to occur today, would cause serious problems with the power grid, satellite communications, and transportation systems.

Preventing major disruptions from CMEs is why the UK is getting interested in space weather. Professor Sir John Beddington, UK Chief Science Advisor, will be coming over to the US this week to talk to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), which runs a Space Weather Prediction Centre. International cooperation is key to predicting and avoiding negative impacts from space weather. Predicting a space weather event could save billions of dollars globally if enough advance notice is given to allow time for shutting down electrical systems to avoid damage from a CME. The Science & Innovation team in the US has continued to facilitate talks with NOAA and initiate workshops on the issue to highlight its importance.

Sir John’s talk with NOAA about space weather is only one of several meetings that he will be conducting while in Washington. Topics range from regenerative medicine to shale gas. All in all, it will be a busy week. And who knows, maybe there will be time to talk to Michael Bay about an idea for a new movie.