Solar Physics And Safety

Solar physics, or solar physics, deals with the study and description of stars or The Sun, with his description of its structure and behavior. Solar physics directly affects security fields, as can be seen in the examples we provide at the end of the article. We have drawn the following information from the following sources:

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If you are interested in more articles about physics and safety, follow our section Fyzika A Bezpečnost – KINT S.r.o.

The physics of the sun can be divided into the following areas:

a general description of the Sun as a star,
the internal structure of the Sun,
convection,
atmosphere,
rotation,
oscillation,
helioseismology,
solar magnetism,
eruptions,
corona,
space weather.

From the point of view of physics for security disciplines, we will focus especially on space weather as a consequence of the properties described in other branches of solar physics, as it has a direct effect on the human system and technology.

Space weather

Space weather significantly affects human technology and the Earth’s climate, therefore the area of space weather measurement and forecasting is considered a very promising field with applications in applied solar physics. Fluctuations in space weather cause, among others: geomagnetic storms, aurora borealis, ionospheric disturbances, electronic disturbances, power line disturbances ³ .

The monitored space weather quantities are mainly:

monitoring the IMF (interplanetary magnetic field) around the Earth in nT,
Disturbance currents in the ionosphere (Dst) created by the increased activity of the Sun in nT to determine the intensity of the magnetic storm in the lowlands. Widths,
other geomagnetic indexes – K, Kp, Ap, AE ⁴,
solar wind speed in km/s,
solar activity proxy (¹⁴C): ¹⁴C, Be isotopes: cosmogenic elements,
zřejmě galaktický původ, při zvýšené sluneční aktivitě ztrácí energii a jejich pronikavost do zemské magnetosféry je menší, more activity = less ¹⁴C, isotopes can be found in glaciers, tree rings,
geological layers mapping the general climatic temperature.

Activity Prediction Methods:

– Activity Predictions:

– short-term – extrapolation based on experience, “observing” the flip side

– success rate ~ 85% per week,

– long-term

– mathematical function modeling the development of the activity index

– forecast = extrapolation,

– physical model taking principles, is calibrated to observations,

– forecast = development of the model into the future,

– Solar activity affects the technique – for the sake of planning, it is necessary to have at least an estimate

– NASA and the planning of missions and stays in free space,

– energy – vigilance against outages,

– satellite – possible malfunctions, transition to safe mode.

Selected solar phenomena and anomalies

Scénář eruptivní události:

1. High-energy electromagnetic radiation

– RTG a gama,

– ionizes the atmosphere, communication disorders and GPS,

– lasts eight and a half minutes after eruption.

2. Proton storm

– dangerous for astronauts, increases the radiation load of pilots, etc.,

– differential particle charging,

– takes 23 minutes to two hours.

3. Coronal mass ejection

– magnetosphere disturbances,

– satellite outages, network outages,

The aurora is the result of the interaction of solar wind particles with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere (collision excitation); high power consumption, up to 600 GW; they occur most often around the polar circles; they run almost symmetrically in the southern and northern hemispheres; completely harmless – cancels short-wave connection, enables long-wave connection.

Impacts of solar activity on Earth

Effects of Solar Activity on Earth:

– Generation of voltage on long lines:

– breakdown of energy networks,

– corrosion of oil pipelines.

– Affecting the radio link:

– air traffic!

– Navigation:

– mining platforms,

– radio beacons.

– False signals..

– Electronics.

– Damage to space satellites.

– Increased radiation risk for cosmonauts, pilots, flight attendants.

– Potential danger to cybernetic implants.

– People more sensitive to changes in the magnetic field:

– possible effect on NMR examination (nuclear magnetic resonance).

– Loss of orientation of animals: pigeons, dolphins, whales, etc.

Periods of activity and relation to climate

Gleissberg cycle: 87 years, cycle amplitude modulation.

De Vries cycle: 205 years.

Hallstatt: 2300 years.

Eruption period: 140—170 (154) days.

Strong period ~ 27 days! + aperiodic component

Periods have no physical basis, they are not reproduced in models ⁵.

The relationship between solar activity and Earth’s climate according to ⁶:

10-13 century: warm climate, Greenland – agricultural colony (Green-land)

13th century: cooling

645–1715: Little Ice Age (Maunder Minimum)

Solární fyzika a bezpečnost — Solar Physics – Relationships between the number of sunspots and the Earth’s climate⁷

Selected disasters

The chapter briefly presents selected disasters caused by solar activity and sudden changes in the magnetic field.

Carrington Event (supereruption)

the first historically documented eruption on 1 September 1859,
geomagnetic storm the following two days,
Northern lights as far away as the Caribbean, miners in the Rockies ate breakfast thinking it was morning, it was possible to read a newspaper,
failure of the telegraph connection, burns of operators, some lines sent false messages even without power,
Dst index −1760 nT.

Electromagnetic storm of 1921

a geomagnetic storm knocked out the New York City Railroad on May 13, 1921
apparently the control tower burned down from the telegraph line,
complete outage of the telegraph network in the eastern US,
extensive breakdowns (“burned out electronics”) of the telephone network in Sweden,
transcontinental cable failures.

Québeck blackout

March 13, 1989, a large-scale geomagnetic storm as a result of a series of eruptions and a CME (coronal mass ejection),

– the collapse of the power grid in Quebec, a complete blackout lasted 9 hours,

insulating stone base,
the breakdown lasted on the order of seconds,
several transformers burned down,
total damages $6 million,

– a burned out 500 kV transformer in New Jersey,

– two burnt out 400kV transformers in Great Britain.

Bastille Day Event

X5 class eruption 7/14/2000,
proton eruption at the center of the disk, i.e. well observed,

completely overwhelmed EIT@SOHO and rendered measurements unusable,
accompanied by a geomagnetic storm on July 15-17.
coronal mass ejection echoes detected by instruments on Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.

23/07/2011 Eruption on the far side of the Sun

– a massive CME (strength unknown), hit the STEREO A satellite

– actually two CMEs 15 minutes apart, area “cleaned” by another CME four days ago,

– 2900 km/s (!),

– estimated geo-efficiency – DST ~ -1200 nT,

– estimated damage: $2 trillion (20x Katrina).

Solar Physics and Safety