Scientists issue urgent warning over solar storm threats — blackouts, grid breakdowns, ‘internet apocalypse' could be on the horizon
Scientists claim we're not prepared for the solar storms threatening Earth, which could cause cataclysmic blackouts, grid breakdowns and even an 'internet apocalypse,' according to a frightening 'emergency drill' conducted by a coalition of government agencies.
The warning came after Earth was struck by a series of X-class solar flares — the highest magnitude of these intense radiation bursts — that erupted from the extremely active sunspot AR4087, CTV news reported.
The first sun ray was an X1.2 that occurred Monday, May 13 at around 11:38am. This was followed the next morning by X2.7-class solar flare, which sparked radio blackouts spanning North and South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, Livescience reported.
3 Last May, the Federal Emergency Management Agency hosted a space weather tabletop exercise utilizing multiple agencies across the U.S., including the 140th Wing and 233d Space Group, to generate no-fault dialogue about various challenges associated with preparing for and responding to an impending space weather event.
Staff Sgt. Luccario Lovato/U.S. Air National Guard
Unfortunately, we'll only see more of these solar flare-ups as sunspot AR4087 swivels closer into view — like a giant interstellar death ray.
To assess our ability to handle a massive sunburst, the federal government released the results of an emergency exercise conducted by the Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation (SWORM), a task force that includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and other agencies.
Conducted in May 2024, the 'Space Weather Tabletop Exercise was set in January 2028 and involved different magnitudes of geomagnetic storms.' These occur when the Sun sends energy and charged particles into space in a phenomenon known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), IFL Science reported.
3 NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare (circled) on May 14.
NASA/SDO / SWNS
The largest was a 'solar superstorm' that hypothetically caused an internet apocalypse, disrupted the US power grid, and caused blackouts across the Eastern seaboard that lasted for weeks, The Daily Mail reported. This hypothetical solar meltdown also knocked railways and pipelines offline, impacting travel nationwide and sent gas prices into the stratosphere, per the report.
During this fictitious scenario, each agency was tasked with assessing and handling the fallout of an active solar region that's turning to face us — a dead ringer for our current real-life predicament of being in the crosshairs of the AR4087 sunspot, Popular Science reported.
3 'Space weather is a complex subject and its potential impacts are not well understood outside of NOAA and NASA,' read the report
juliars – stock.adobe.com
To compound the simulated crisis, a two-astronaut Orion spacecraft crew was flying to the Moon, while another pair of Artemis astronauts had already touched down on the lunar surface.
Unfortunately, participants failed to formulate a good protocol for this catastrophic hypothetical.
Participants said the most difficult task was evaluating the impact of a coronal mass ejection (CME), which can only be detected 30 minutes before it reaches Earth, making preparation all but impossible.
'Space weather is a complex subject and its potential impacts are not well understood outside of NOAA and NASA,' reads the report.
SWORM added that participants also lacked the 'space weather expertise' necessary to 'translate the scientific information and determine what the specific impacts would be on Earth.'
'There is a strong need to educate not only government and agency staff but the general public, as well,' they declared.
In light of the backfired drill, SWORM recommends investing in solar storm-detecting tech and upping collaboration between US agencies, international allies, and private companies.
'Ongoing preparedness efforts for a space weather event are crucial because an extreme event has the potential to severely impact our nation's critical infrastructure and threaten our national security,' the report stated,' they wrote. 'Just as we prepare for earthquakes, hurricanes, and cyberattacks, our nation must take action before a major space weather event occurs.'
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
An icy supervolcano eruption on Pluto may have left a massive crater on the frozen world
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A landmark on Pluto that was previously designated as an impact crater may actually be the caldera of a supervolcano that has exploded in the past few million years, new research suggests. When NASA's New Horizons mission flew by Pluto in 2015, it revealed a geologically rich world, rather than the cold, dark landscape many had anticipated. Almost immediately, researchers identified two features, called Wright Mons and Piccard Mons, that were strongly suspected to be icy volcanoes, and further study confirmed their identity. But not every cryovolcano was easy to spot. The suspected supervolcano, Kiladze, was initially classified as an impact crater. However, now scientists suspect it's something else. "We evaluated the possibility of the depression as a cryovolcanic caldera versus having an impact crater origin," said Al Emran, a planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Emran presented his team's results in July at the Progress in Understanding the Pluto System: 10 Years After Flyby conference in Laurel, Maryland. "We think it's more like Yellowstone Caldera in Wyoming," Emran said. At least two of Yellowstone's eruptions, millions of years ago, reached supervolcano status. Impact crater or caldera? Kiladze remains listed as a crater. But the rich supply of water ice surrounding the bowl-shaped feature sparked Emran's curiosity, and he wondered if it might be a cryovolcano instead. At first glance, the elongated oval bears a strong similarity to an impact crater. It's large, with an average diameter of 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). Its walls are irregularly shaped, and the complex features it would require could easily have been eroded by Pluto's active surface processes. The landscape itself is marked by pits and other geological features, many of which have collapsed. If an incoming impactor broke through the surface and exposed veins of frozen lava beneath, it could have created the explosive distribution of water ice seen on the surface. But when Emran dug into the topography maps of Pluto created by the New Horizons team, he realized there was a problem: The crater was too deep. Across the solar system, crater depth scales with crater diameter in a predictable way, and the same law appeared to hold true for other craters on Pluto — but for not Kiladze. At best, estimates put an impact crater of its size at 1.7 miles (2.74 km) wide. But with the activity flowing across Pluto, material would have been more likely to fill in the crater over time, making it even shallower. Haze particles would have piled up, and melting or slumping ices would have fallen inward. However, Kiladze isn't shallower than projected; it's deeper. Parts of the basin reach 2.5 deep, and the entire site averages nearly 2 miles (3 km) in depth. For these reasons, Emran and his colleagues suspect that Kiladze is a caldera, a massive depression created by the eruption and subsequent collapse of a volcano. Magma — or cryomagma — spewing from the surface rapidly over a short period of time can weaken the supporting material, causing it to collapse inward on itself. Despite the supervolcano's collapse, the eruptive power of Kiladze would have been impressive. Emran and his colleagues calculated that the explosion could have ejected as much as 240 cubic miles (1,000 cubic kilometers) of icy cryomagma across the surrounding region, achieving the definition of a supervolcano. Although Yellowstone has erupted more than 80 times over its lifetime of more than 2 million years, only two explosions have been classified as supervolcanic. Kiladze may have blasted out its cryomagma in a single explosive event, or it may have spread its eruptions over time. Either way, its most recent event spewed water ice at least 60 miles (100 km). Emran suspects that estimate is low, however, as more water ice is likely visible at resolutions smaller than New Horizons could reach. "One or more cataclysmic explosive eruptions that resulted in the excavation and collapse of what is seen as the Kiladze caldera would be expected to scatter the water-ice cryomagma widely for a thousand or more kilometers, leaving exposures too small to be seen in the data at hand," the authors wrote in a paper recently published in The Planetary Science Journal. Clues in the ice Kiladze sits just north of Sputnik Planetia, the icy heart to Pluto. Although much of the dwarf planet's surface is covered with a variety of ices, very little of the surface matches what you might find in your freezer at home. Temperatures on Pluto are so cold that water ice serves as the bedrock for the dwarf planet, while other ices pile on top. But in the neighborhood surrounding Kiladze, water ice stretches across the surface. The ice has traces of an unidentified ammoniated compound. "It's difficult to determine the exact composition," Emran said. In fact, that particular signature of ammonia is not seen anywhere else on Pluto. Ammonia may be what allows the frigid ice to flow. Its addition lowers the freezing point of water, allowing it to remain liquid for longer periods. Beneath the surface, pockets of water and ammonia could have avoided freezing as Pluto's bedrock solidified. Eventually, tectonic pressure could have driven the icy magma to the surface, spewing it across the landscape around Kiladze, Emran explained. The mysterious traces of ammonia could also help to date the cryovolcano. Pure ammonia is quickly obliterated by the solar wind, ultraviolet particles and cosmic rays. Its faint presence suggests that the latest eruption occurred fairly recently in Pluto's history, Emran said. Pluto's haze can help to nail down geological activity. The light shroud covers the dwarf planet — a result of methane and other gases jumping from solid to gas. As the particles grow, they eventually fall back to the surface and spread all over the dwarf planet. Grounded haze particles would cover the water ice like a blanket, obscuring signs of the cryolava, Emran explained. If such a layer had formed, New Horizons would have seen nitrogen-rich ice instead of signs of water-rich volcanism. RELATED STORIES — Supervolcano eruption on Pluto hints at hidden ocean beneath the surface — Pluto's heart-shaped scar may offer clues to the frozen world's history — Pluto's atmosphere gets its blue haze from icy organic compounds, study suggests Burying the water ice requires at least 0.4 inches (10 millimeters) of haze particles falling to Pluto. That process takes at least 3 million years, Emran said. That could mean Pluto isn't as frozen as previously thought. "If Kiladze erupted as recently as 3 million years ago, it would indeed suggest that Pluto's interior may still retain some residual warmth today," Emran said. "This aligns with the idea that cryovolcanism on Pluto could be ongoing or episodic." Solve the daily Crossword
Miami Herald
3 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Are sharks an ‘overwhelming problem' in Florida? What the experts say
Florida anglers say sharks are snatching their catches at unprecedented rates, calling it an 'overwhelming problem' and blaming a boom in Gulf shark numbers. But scientific research paints a more complicated picture. Scientists who study sharks acknowledge that depredation — the act of fish being eaten by an underwater predator while on a fisherman's line — is a growing concern in some areas, especially Florida. They cite several potential drivers of increased shark-human conflict, including climate change-related shifts in shark behavior and rebounding populations of some species. But they note that changes in human behavior — such as more people fishing and heightened awareness of shark encounters through social media — may also play a role. Now, researchers are working to learn when and why these encounters happen and how to prevent them. Matt Ajemian, an associate research professor studying the issue at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, cautions against calling shark depredation a crisis, noting that historical accounts show similar encounters have long occurred. 'I don't call it a problem,' he said. 'I try to call it a challenge.' Ajemian and research coordinator Mike McCallister are leading a NOAA-funded project launched in 2021 to study when and where depredation happens and what might reduce it. Their team has turned to anglers for help, gathering information through surveys, video footage, genetic testing and social media reports to identify patterns. In their surveys, about 43% of Florida anglers said sharks had stolen their catch, with rates ranging from 10% to 60% depending on the region, season and species, researchers said. When it happened, sharks took nearly a third to almost half of the day's haul. The data came from quarterly surveys of 4,000 randomly selected saltwater fishing license holders over a year, with about 2,200 responding. Because participation was voluntary and limited to license holders, researchers said, the results don't represent all Florida anglers. They also tracked posts in a Facebook group with more than 6,500 members, logging real-time reports from offshore anglers across the state. Researchers said survey responses and online reports point to clear patterns in when and where depredation occurs. It was most common in the spring and summer, with hotspots in Southeast Florida, the Keys and the Panhandle. Rates spiked during busy fishing periods such as red snapper and grouper season openings. Snapper and grouper were the most frequently lost catches, followed by king mackerel, cobia, tuna and sailfish, according to the study. McCallister said the data also showed longer fights gave sharks more time to strike, and anglers targeting deep-water or migratory species were more likely to be affected than those fishing inshore. Bull sharks and sandbar sharks were the main culprits, based on angler accounts and genetic swabs from bitten fish, but they weren't the only ones. 'The videos have shown us that it's not always sharks that are the problem,' said Mike McCallister, FAU research coordinator. McCallister said goliath grouper, a massive fish that can weigh up to 800 pounds, is another species that can target an angler's catch underwater. 'Most of these depredations occur below the water line, where people can't see them,' said McCallister. Many anglers blame a growing shark population for increasing depredation. Researchers say that while some shark populations appear to be rebounding after past declines, their numbers likely remain below historical levels. 'My inkling is that sharks are returning on an increasing trajectory thanks to solid management and a lot of federal effort,' Ajemian said. He and McCallister note that in the 1960s and 1970s, U.S. agencies even encouraged commercial shark fishing to diversify the seafood supply. But when shark populations declined sharply in the 1980s and early 1990s, it prompted the launch of national management plans in 1993. Recently, NOAA Fisheries credited these management efforts with increases in several shark species in the Atlantic, including blacktip, sandbar, tiger and white sharks. Mahmood Shivji, director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University, also cites research that juvenile bull shark numbers are rising in Gulf estuaries. However, scientists say that it's important to put the numbers in context. Mike Heithaus, a marine ecologist at Florida International University, says that while some populations are recovering, most remain below historical levels. For younger anglers, today's encounters may feel unprecedented, but researchers say they could be closer to historic norms. 'That shifting baseline concept is real,' McCallister said. Scientists say broader environmental changes may also be driving shark encounters. Overfishing and warming waters could be affecting where sharks go and what they eat, Shivji said, and climate change is altering how deep they dive and how they reproduce. 'Environmental conditions also impact the distribution of natural prey species that sharks eat, and as these prey species move to different locations, the sharks follow their food,' Shivji said. Sharks themselves are also vulnerable. Heithaus says that climate change could further disrupt food webs, create low-oxygen zones and push predators and prey into new areas. 'Climate change is also going to have big effects on shark prey and their competitors, which is likely to disrupt predator-prey interactions,' Heithaus said. Researchers say more study is needed to pinpoint the causes of angler-shark encounters and whether depredation is actually increasing or simply being reported more often, including through social media. To help answer that question, McCallister is examining long-term recreational fishing records for his doctoral research. In the meantime, McCallister says many frustrated anglers are already adjusting tactics, switching gear, moving spots or cutting trips short to account for shark behavior. 'Most anglers are trying to reduce depredation on their own,' McCallister said. Researchers are also testing ways to keep sharks at bay, including deterrent devices that use magnets to disrupt their electrical senses. So far, they've shown mixed results. One device, called the Zeppelin, showed early promise but only works for bottom fishing, as it can cling to metal parts of a boat or tackle, fouling lines, researchers said. It costs around $80. Other deterrents being tested, such as devices that emit electric pulses, can cost more than $1,000. Some anglers told Ajemian and McCallister the price is too high, especially since the device can be lost during use. The search for answers is also playing out at the federal level. The SHARKED Act passed the House in January. If it gets signed into law, it would create a federal task force to study shark depredation and recommend solutions. Until then, scientists say continued research will be key to helping anglers, policymakers and the public better understand the challenge and the best ways to address it. While recognizing that shark activity can frustrate anglers, scientists also emphasize that the predators play a vital role in the ecosystem — one that is important to protect as their populations continue to decline globally. 'We are still learning a lot about how important they can be, but they can keep populations of prey in check and help protect the base of food webs, like seagrasses, by keeping them from being overgrazed,' Heithaus said. 'The big picture is that many shark species have been severely overfished worldwide, and many species, especially the ones that live in the open ocean and on reefs, have declined by around 50 to 90%,' Shivji said. 'Their now-rapid population declines are very concerning given the essential roles that sharks play in keeping our oceans in balance and healthy,' Shivji added, 'making it very important to appreciate these amazing animals, their essential place and role in ocean ecosystems, and helping to prevent many species from going extinct.'
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Perseids meteor shower 2025 peaks tonight: Where and what time to watch the year's brightest shower
The Perseids is considered the best, most visible meteor shower of the year, according to NASA. The Perseids meteor shower will peak Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, with up to 100 streaks visible every hour. The Perseids shower, which has been active since July 17, is 'considered the best meteor shower of the year,' according to NASA. Experts note that the moon may impact some visibility, but viewers will still be able to watch the shower if they're in a dark area away from city lights and their phones. Here's what to know to prepare for the year's biggest meteor shower. What is a meteor shower? Meteoroids are falling pieces of debris from comets and asteroids that, as they enter the Earth's atmosphere, turn into meteors, according to NASA. As meteors vaporize, their trails are visible from Earth, which is what we call 'shooting stars' or 'falling stars.' A meteor shower is what happens when there's a higher-than-usual number of meteors falling across the sky in a short period of time. Meteor showers happen at certain times throughout the year because comets also orbit the sun, so when a comet and the Earth cross paths, the Earth encounters a lot of the comet's debris, or meteoroids. What to know about the Perseids meteor shower The Perseids meteors leave particularly long, bright trails as they fall through Earth's atmosphere, with about 50 to 100 streaks expected to be visible every hour at its peak. The Perseids shower comes from comet 109/Swift-Tuttle, a comet that takes 133 years to orbit the sun and crosses the Earth's orbit once a year. The shower's name comes from the constellation Perseus, NASA explains, which is the point in the sky from which the Perseids meteors are visibly falling. Fireballs are also anticipated to appear throughout Tuesday night into Wednesday. 'Fireballs' is an astronomical term used by NASA to describe meteoroids that burst into bright colors while in the Earth's atmosphere, becoming more visible than average meteors. How to watch the Perseids meteor shower Northern Hemisphere residents will have the best Perseids views, NASA reports. But this year's shower does coincide with the rise of a waning gibbous moon, the phase between a full moon and a half moon, which could impact visibility, warned. To find the best time to see the Perseids shower where you are, check the Global Meteor Network's meteor-tracking meter.
