NASA ISSUES WARNING OF SOLAR SUPERSTROM2012 - "ONE BILLION COULD DIE"
Now new information shows that we probably won`t get away from a superstorm from the sun after all. Could a superstorm generated by the sun destroy civilization as we know it in 2012? No less than NASA thinks it’s a distinct possibility. In a remarkable move the normally conservative US space agency has taken the extraordinary step of warning the world. The headlines reverberating around the world speak volumes: ‘Leaks discovered in Earth’s magnetic field,’ Solar storms to wreak havoc,’ ‘The end of life as we know it,’ ‘Magnetic shift to cause global superstorms.’
Can this really happen?
NASA and the European Space Agency say yes and finally admits that 2012 could be the rising specter of doom. Among all the countries with exposure to the solar devastation, the United States is the most susceptible. As The Daily Telegraph recently observed: “National power grids could overheat and air travel severely disrupted while electronic items, navigation devices and major satellites could stop working after the Sun reaches its maximum power…” Experts on the sun are very concerned as they see the sun awaking from its unusually long slumber with a violence unseen for generations. That violence could be in the form of mammoth magnetic storms. Those storms hitting the Earth will be like a giant’s fist slamming into the fragile electronic technology that runs the world. Hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis pale by comparison.
“We know it is coming but we don’t know how bad it is going to be,” Dr Richard Fisher, the director of NASA’s Heliophysics division, said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. “It will disrupt communication devices such as satellites and car navigation, air travel, the banking system, our computers, everything that is electronic. It will cause major problems for the world. “
A menacing electronic Doomsday could be on the way. A giant solar superstorm would lead to martial law, mass starvation and eventual societal collapse. Since the sun’s last upheaval caused worldwide disruption and destruction in 1859, civilization has rapidly advanced a society based on a technological infrastructure that can be whisked away in moments by a severe geomagnetic storm.
“Systems will just not work. The flares change the magnetic field on the earth that is rapid and like a lightning bolt. That is the solar affect,” Fisher added.
During 2008, the National Academy of Sciences issued a dire report: “Severe Space Weather Events Societal and Economic Impacts.” The report outlined, in excruciating detail, the potential demise of America’s 21st Century technological base—and the resulting havoc to the economy and society. The US would be slammed into an electronic Doomsday if this occur. That gloomy report went under-reported and unheeded by the governments of the world. Now NASA is desperately trumpeting the danger and still most politicians turn deaf ears towards the warning and blind eyes towards the angry sun. When the belt is turning “fast,” it means that lots of magnetic fields are being swept up, and that a future sunspot cycle is going to be intense. This is a basis for forecasting: “The belt was turning fast in 1986-1996,” says Hathaway. “Old magnetic fields swept up then should re-appear as big sunspots in 2010-2011.” Like most experts in the field, Hathaway has confidence in the conveyor belt model and agrees with Dikpati that the next solar maximum should be an extraordinary one of its kind . But he disagrees with one point. Dikpati’s forecast puts Solar Max at 2012. Hathaway believes it will arrive sooner, in 2010 or 2011. “History shows that big sunspot cycles ‘ramp up’ faster than small ones,” he says. “I expect to see the first sunspots of the next cycle appear in late 2006 or 2007—and Solar Max to be underway by 2010 or 2011.” Who’s right? Time will tell. Either way, a storm is coming.
How severe is the threat?
People in the first world countries rely heavily upon technologies at risk from solar storms—a technology that runs financial systems, electrical power grids, water plants, air travel, farming, transportation, GPS navigation of aircraft and seagoing vessels…even the daily operation of government at all levels. During a solar superstorm most communication will be blasted out of existence; power will fail. Cities will be left without light and water and food will run out. Civil unrest will surge as society collapses in a matter of days. The US federal and state governments will be hard-pressed to restore order amongst 300 million people as mass starvation sets in and sources of fresh water dwindle and as the result of this one billion people could die. Restoration of the infrastructure would take years even a decade or more. During the interim more than a billion people could die worldwide more if warfare breaks out between countries desperate for scarce resources. As 2011 unfolds, sunspots have returned and they are crackling with activity. On February 15th and again on March 9th, Earth orbiting satellites detected a pair of “X-class” solar flares–the most powerful kind of x-ray flare. The last such eruption occurred back in December 2006.
Michio Kaku adds his voice “as usual” to the warnings. World renown American astrophysicist Dr. Michio Kaku, Professor of Theoretical Physics in the City College of New York of City University of New York and the co-founder of string field theory, is worried about a potential catastrophe and has joined in NASA’s warning. Appearing recently on FoxNews, Kaku said, “We’re talking about a potential Katrina from space.” But Kaku sees the disaster as 10 times greater than Katrina-perhaps even worse than that. “We’d be thrown 100 years into the past,” he explained. The transition to the 1800s would occur as quickly as flipping a light switch off. The last storm of this magnitude that hit the US occurred in 1859. If such a superstorm hits again it would paralyze the United States and the rest of the world for months…for years…
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