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Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, two more earth-directed CMEs

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Re: Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, two more earth-directed CMEs

#231
post #11

Implications! - Power systems: Possible widespread voltage control problems and some protective systems will mistakenly trip out key assets from the grid. - Spacecraft operations: May experience surface charging and tracking problems, corrections may be needed for orientation problems. - Other systems: Induced pipeline currents affect preventive measures, HF radio propagation sporadic, satellite navigation degraded f…

Uuuuh I have a flight today 8pm CT . What will this mean for airplanes?

Interesting thought… keep the receipt either way, in case it becomes relevant as part of a class action in 30 years!

Re: Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, two more earth-directed CMEs

#232
post #11

Implications! - Power systems: Possible widespread voltage control problems and some protective systems will mistakenly trip out key assets from the grid. - Spacecraft operations: May experience surface charging and tracking problems, corrections may be needed for orientation problems. - Other systems: Induced pipeline currents affect preventive measures, HF radio propagation sporadic, satellite navigation degraded f…

Uuuuh I have a flight today 8pm CT . What will this mean for airplanes?

Nothing consequential for a single flight. Even crew really don't have to worry about it until it gets to very high levels, according to the NOAA scales

Re: Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, two more earth-directed CMEs

#233
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really too bad we didn't have a major CME in the 90's. That was the perfect time for a good lesson in redundancy and why you can't and shouldn't jettison "the old ways" so quickly. Perhaps its not too late now, but the pain will be considerably higher. Earth lucked out in so many ways, but a CME spanking in the 1990's is asking for too much I guess.

That's just the anthropic principle for you: If we'd have been any less lucky, we wouldn't be here to write about it :)

I think you miss the point s/he's making: back in the 90's we were much less reliant on computers than today, much more cash based. It would have been a wake-up call, today it would be a calamity.

Re: Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, two more earth-directed CMEs

#234
post #227

"The Threat of a Solar Superstorm Is Growing—And We’re Not Ready" https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-threat-of-a-s... Discussed in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40196820

Humanity is good in sweeping problems under the rug and not preparing to various threats.

What problems?

Re: Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, two more earth-directed CMEs

#236
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The water seems like the hard part. Are there any tricks for cheap, safe hydration for a family? I guess we could just start building walls of unopened water bottles in our basement… (In my teens I saw a family friend had a bag full of food supplies. I asked someone if that was a prep bag, and they said yes. I thought they were a bit weird. Now I’ve come full circle browsing Amazon for cheap doomsday food.)

I used to be a logistics officer for an Infantry battalion. Most of the comments down thread underestimate water consumption. Depending on the climate, you'll want the following daily quantities [1]: - 2-3 gallons for drinking - 1.5 gallons for hygiene (can skip for a while) - 0.5 gallons for food prep The planning factor for military operations was 8 gallons per person per day. Water is heavy—8 pounds per gallon—and…

8 ga of water per person per day is completely insane in disaster scenario. 2-3ga for drinking a day? Medical professionals recommend less than 1 for a normal person.

Re: Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, two more earth-directed CMEs

#237
post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 8 gallons per person per day. Water is heavy—8 pounds per gallon The average person needs far less than 65lbs (30kg) of water per day, which is a third of the average male weight in the US. By medical standards humans need more like 8lbs (under 4l) per day for men and 6lbs (under 3l) for women. Less if your rationing and not exerting yourself.

OP’s factoring includes washing, food prep, all that other stuff.

1.5 a day for washing is hilariously wasteful. Use some wet wipes for crying out loud!

Re: Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, two more earth-directed CMEs

#239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really too bad we didn't have a major CME in the 90's. That was the perfect time for a good lesson in redundancy and why you can't and shouldn't jettison "the old ways" so quickly. Perhaps its not too late now, but the pain will be considerably higher. Earth lucked out in so many ways, but a CME spanking in the 1990's is asking for too much I guess.

I would like to think that the servers that run ACH networks, IBM mainframes that actually store your account balance, etc are shielded from CME and even an EMP. But the vulnerable side then becomes the power grid and Internet backbone. Part of a resilient disaster plan would be to allow ACH and other payment traffic to take priority if we were relegated to a low bandwidth connection. If we cannot transfer money, we…

I know for a fact at least one insurance company’s IBM aix mainframes are in an underground emp proof (faraday cage which connects through the door) vault.
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