Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed • Hacker News Board

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#11

Post by mrguyorama » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 5:02 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #9

Checking the PJM power grid's alerts: Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for 01:47 on 09.08.2017 through 17:00 on 09.08.2017 . A GMD warning of K7 or greater is in effect for this period. Additional Comments: SpaceWeatherPredictionCenter Extended original Warning of GMD Intensity of K7 or greater until 9/8/17 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT). Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for…

How common are long-distance DC lines and what are they used for?

My understanding is that the vast majority of power infrastructure is AC, and long distances are using High Voltage AC lines

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#12

Post by sandworm101 » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 5:05 PM UTC

mrguyorama wrote: post #11

Animats wrote: post #9

Checking the PJM power grid's alerts: Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for 01:47 on 09.08.2017 through 17:00 on 09.08.2017 . A GMD warning of K7 or greater is in effect for this period. Additional Comments: SpaceWeatherPredictionCenter Extended original Warning of GMD Intensity of K7 or greater until 9/8/17 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT). Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for…

How common are long-distance DC lines and what are they used for? My understanding is that the vast majority of power infrastructure is AC, and long distances are using High Voltage AC lines

Oldschool telephone lines.

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#13

Post by fastaguy88 » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 5:08 PM UTC

mrguyorama wrote: post #11

Animats wrote: post #9

Checking the PJM power grid's alerts: Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for 01:47 on 09.08.2017 through 17:00 on 09.08.2017 . A GMD warning of K7 or greater is in effect for this period. Additional Comments: SpaceWeatherPredictionCenter Extended original Warning of GMD Intensity of K7 or greater until 9/8/17 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT). Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for…

How common are long-distance DC lines and what are they used for? My understanding is that the vast majority of power infrastructure is AC, and long distances are using High Voltage AC lines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#14

Post by Sharlin » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 5:08 PM UTC

65°N 26°E last night: http://www.taivaanvahti.fi/observations/show/66829

I live at 61°30'N or so and there could have been a great show around these parts as well but of course it had to be completely overcast last night. And will most likely be the next couple of nights as well. Frustrating.

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#15

Post by delegate » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 5:08 PM UTC

olivermarks wrote: post #7

Does anyone have any thoughts on any relationships between the recent solar flares and magnetic storms and the hurricanes and Mexican earthquake? Is this coincidence or does major space weather events result in major earth weather? https://www.space.com/38057-sun-unleashes-decades-strongest-...

There's also the eclipse preceding these events.

Of course there are relationships, I just don't think most of us (scientists or scientifically inclined) know how to see them, since some of the links are not in the 'rational' space.

Shamans still have better answers than scientists to these kinds of questions, but I don't think that most people want to hear the answers.

Either way something extraordinary is taking place, hopefully it will lead to something positive in the end.

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#16

Post by fsloth » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

Historical reference: For example, there was a pretty big blackout in '89 due to space weather https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/sun_darkness.html

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#17

Post by jerkstate » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 5:18 PM UTC

mrguyorama wrote: post #11

Animats wrote: post #9

Checking the PJM power grid's alerts: Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for 01:47 on 09.08.2017 through 17:00 on 09.08.2017 . A GMD warning of K7 or greater is in effect for this period. Additional Comments: SpaceWeatherPredictionCenter Extended original Warning of GMD Intensity of K7 or greater until 9/8/17 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT). Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for…

How common are long-distance DC lines and what are they used for? My understanding is that the vast majority of power infrastructure is AC, and long distances are using High Voltage AC lines

HVDC is becoming more common for medium and long distance transmission lines because HVDC doesn't suffer from the "skin effect" where current is carried mostly by the outside of the conductor, and therefore you can transmit more power with less conductor with HVDC. The tradeoff is, it's much easier to step up and step down AC voltage (using solid state transformers)

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#18

Post by avian » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 5:18 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #9

Checking the PJM power grid's alerts: Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for 01:47 on 09.08.2017 through 17:00 on 09.08.2017 . A GMD warning of K7 or greater is in effect for this period. Additional Comments: SpaceWeatherPredictionCenter Extended original Warning of GMD Intensity of K7 or greater until 9/8/17 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT). Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for…

> For long-distance DC lines, it's a win; the system can use the power.

Do you have a reference for that? They may be more resilient than AC lines, but I doubt these systems are designed to use power generated by solar events.

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#19

Post by netvarun » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 5:19 PM UTC

mrguyorama wrote: post #11

Animats wrote: post #9

Checking the PJM power grid's alerts: Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for 01:47 on 09.08.2017 through 17:00 on 09.08.2017 . A GMD warning of K7 or greater is in effect for this period. Additional Comments: SpaceWeatherPredictionCenter Extended original Warning of GMD Intensity of K7 or greater until 9/8/17 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT). Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for…

How common are long-distance DC lines and what are they used for? My understanding is that the vast majority of power infrastructure is AC, and long distances are using High Voltage AC lines

Sf has one of them - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Bay_Cable

On a related note, there was a fascinating article on sf's dc grids by Spectrum https://www.google.com/amp/spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/da... (pardon the amp link)

My office building taps into it to power the old school loading elevator!

Re: Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed

#20

Post by bri3d » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 5:20 PM UTC

mrguyorama wrote: post #11

Animats wrote: post #9

Checking the PJM power grid's alerts: Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for 01:47 on 09.08.2017 through 17:00 on 09.08.2017 . A GMD warning of K7 or greater is in effect for this period. Additional Comments: SpaceWeatherPredictionCenter Extended original Warning of GMD Intensity of K7 or greater until 9/8/17 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT). Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for…

How common are long-distance DC lines and what are they used for? My understanding is that the vast majority of power infrastructure is AC, and long distances are using High Voltage AC lines

HVDC is used for long-distance transmission where taps aren't necessary, and to connect disparate AC standards. Popular applications are undersea cables, remote generation facilities, and intercontinental or inter-country distribution. It's a lot more efficient than AC over distance as it requires fewer conductors and doesn't suffer from skin effect, so transmission losses are lower. And since you're already doing the AC->DC->AC conversion, there's no need for the connected grids to be synchronized.

As renewables (solar, wind, hydro) become more popular, so too does the need for reliable long-distance power transmission. With fossil fuel, fuels could be delivered to the point of generation - with solar, wind, and hydro, the location of the generator is non-negotiable and so the energy must be transported instead.

So we'll probably see more and more HVDC systems in coming years.