Since last year, people have been worried about a supposed ‘internet apocalypse’. The phenomenon would have been announced by NASAhowever, nothing has been proven.
Even so, scientists have analyzed the situation and are even developing a contingency plan to deal with possible impacts caused by a solar storm.
When did science discover it?
The story begins in 2021, when a study showed that, in addition to severely impacting electrical grids and conventional communications, an extremely intense coronal mass ejection would also have catastrophic effects on the global internet.
Even after electricity is restored days after such an event, the internet would remain offline.
Phenomena like this have already been recorded three times: in 1859, ‘Carrington’ caused something curious, causing compass needles to rotate uncontrollably, indicating the impact of a strong solar storm on the Earth’s magnetic field.
Back in 1929, for three days, I was in a medium-scale fire at New York’s Grand Central Station, as well as affecting the city’s telegraph network.
In 1989, a moderate coronal mass ejection event resulted in the failure of the Hydro-Québec power grid in northern Canada. This left the northernmost region of the country without power for around nine hours.
Despite this incident, more than 30 years have passed without a significant event, it is likely that we are on the verge of facing one in the near future.
Possible solar storm could leave the world disconnected – Photo: Canva Pro/Reproduction
Are there real chances of the apocalypse happening?
In short, solar storms are eruptions of highly ionized gas from the Sun’s corona.
Such charged eruptions affect the Earth’s magnetic field, resulting in the complete breakdown of electrical grids, communications and similar stations, causing prolonged blackouts.
Experts explain that the concern covers a global scale. While the stations optical fiber Regional regions tend to remain mostly secure, ocean cables that connect continents are identified as the most vulnerable components.
In the event of a solar storm, these internet cables could be impacted, resulting in significant disruption to the connection supply from the source, highlighting the scale of the problem globally.
Let’s not create panic!
The vulnerability of submarine cables to the so-called ‘internet apocalypse’ is related to the use of repeaters, positioned at intervals of 50 km to 150 km along the route.
These repeaters play the crucial role of amplifying the signal from fiber optic cables, ensuring transmission integrity.
Despite the robustness of the cables themselves, the repeaters, made up of electronic components, become susceptible to the effects of a solar storm, explaining the fragility of the system in the face of the phenomenon.
Experts highlight that a widespread internet outage could be triggered by a strong solar storm, a rare but plausible event that has not yet occurred in the digital age.
Peter Becker, a researcher at George Mason University, in partnership with the US Naval Research Laboratory, leads a project aimed at creating a warning system capable of informing the population approximately 18 hours before the arrival of solar particles in the Earth’s magnetic field, indicating the potential to trigger a possible ‘internet apocalypse’.
“The internet came of age in a period marked by relative solar tranquility. We are currently entering a more active phase of the Sun. This is an unprecedented event in human history, as it is the first time that we have experienced an increase in solar activity amid such significant dependence on the internet”, explains the researcher.
The peak of the current solar cycle, initially predicted for 2025, is now scheduled to occur a year earlier.
According to Becker, there is approximately a 10% chance that, in the 2030s, ‘something really big’ will occur that will disrupt the Internet. The team of scientists monitors solar activity, observing the star’s brightness.
By identifying changes indicative of the launch of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) towards Earth, they are able to predict the arrival of these charged particles on the planet.
Such an occurrence could trigger a disruption of the magnetic field, and an alert 18 to 24 hours in advance would be crucial to shut down devices and prevent damage.
The researcher states that there are measures to mitigate the problem, and the alert is one of them. He highlights that, in the long term, the discussion involves strengthening the internet, which represents an economic challenge.
The ongoing project would be like an insurance policy, offering a safeguard. While it may never be necessary, comprehensively reinforcing the system would cost trillions.
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