Trong khi nhiều người còn đang lo lắng về “năm đại họa 2012” thì mới đây NASA đưa ra cảnh báo về trận bão từ sẽ làm thay đổi toàn bộ cuộc sống trên Trái đất vào năm 2013.
Các nhà khoa học có thâm niên của NASA cảnh báo, vào khoảng năm 2013, sau một "giấc ngủ say", Mặt trời sẽ “thức tỉnh”, bước vào giai đoạn hoạt động mạnh, tạo nên những cơn bão từ cực mạnh tấn công Trái đất. Sức mạnh của trận bão từ này có thể tương đương với sức công phá của 100 quả bom Hydro.
Các chuyên gia cho rằng, khi Mặt trời bước vào thời kỳ hoạt động mạnh, hoạt động phun trào của các điểm đen Mặt trời cũng sẽ trở nên kịch liệt, giải phóng một lượng lớn các hạt mang điện và gây ra các cơn bão mặt trời.
Sự ảnh hưởng của bão mặt trời, theo các nhà khoa học là vượt qua sự tưởng tượng của con người. Chúng có thể khiến toàn bộ Trái đất bước vào những ngày đen tối nhất.
Không chỉ tầng ô-zôn bị phá hủy, hệ thống điện cũng như mạng thông tin điện tử có thể bị tê liệt. Từ đó, những cơ quan như bệnh viện, ngân hàng và sân bay,… cũng sẽ không thể hoạt động được chứ đừng nói đến điện thoại, máy tính hay GPS.
Nếu như tất cả những điều kể trên xảy ra, chúng sẽ mang lại những tổn thất về kinh tế cực kỳ khủng khiếp, mà nhiều người dự tính là nhiều gấp 20 lần so với trận bão Katrina (Tổng thiệt hại do cơn bão này gây ra ước tính lên đến 125 tỷ USD). Đồng thời, nó cũng sẽ tạo nên một bước lùi lịch sử trong tiến trình phát triển của toàn nhân loại.
Các chuyên gia về thiên văn chỉ ra rằng, hoạt động của điểm đen mặt trời có chu kỳ là 11 năm. Vào năm 1859, tức là 151 năm trước đây, Trái đất của chúng ta từng bị một cơn bão mặt trời cực mạnh tấn công. Tuy nhiên, khi đó hệ thống điện và thông tin vẫn chưa phát triển, do vậy hậu quả mà cơn bão này gây ra vẫn chưa đến mức nghiêm trọng.
Lo lắng về sự nguy hại mà các cơn bão từ Mặt trời mang đến cho Trái đất, các nhà khoa học đã bắt đầu theo dõi sát sao Mặt trời. Vào ngày 11/2 vừa qua, một vệ tinh quan trắc các hoạt động của Mặt trời đã được phóng lên quỹ đạo.
Các nhà khoa học hy vọng rằng việc theo dõi Mặt trời 24/24 sẽ giúp các nhà khoa học hiểu rõ kết cấu cũng như các hoạt động từ trường của Mặt trời, từ đó đưa ra được những dự báo chuẩn xác giảm thiểu nguy hại từ các cơn bão Mặt trời.
Lê Văn
Nasa warns solar flares from 'huge space storm' will cause devastation
Britain could face widespread power blackouts and be left without critical communication signals for long periods of time, after the earth is hit by a once-in-a-generation “space storm”, Nasa has warned.
By Andrew Hough
Published: 1:00PM BST 14 Jun 2010
Link to this video
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 in a few years.
Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun wakes “from a deep slumber” sometime around 2013, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
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In a new warning, Nasa said the super storm would hit like “a bolt of lightning” and could cause catastrophic consequences for the world’s health, emergency services and national security unless precautions are taken.
Scientists believe it could damage everything from emergency services’ systems, hospital equipment, banking systems and air traffic control devices, through to “everyday” items such as home computers, iPods and Sat Navs.
Due to humans’ heavy reliance on electronic devices, which are sensitive to magnetic energy, the storm could leave a multi-billion pound damage bill and “potentially devastating” problems for governments.
“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 navigations, air travel, the banking system, our computers, everything that is electronic. It will cause major problems for the world.
“Large areas will be without electricity power and to repair that damage will be hard as that takes time.”
Dr Fisher added: “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.”
A “space weather” conference in Washington DC last week, attended by Nasa scientists, policy-makers, researchers and government officials, was told of similar warnings.
While scientists have previously told of the dangers of the storm, Dr Fisher’s comments are the most comprehensive warnings from Nasa to date.
Dr Fisher, 69, said the storm, which will cause the Sun to reach temperatures of more than 10,000 F (5500C), occurred only a few times over a person’s life.
Every 22 years the Sun’s magnetic energy cycle peaks while the number of sun spots – or flares – hits a maximum level every 11 years.
Dr Fisher, a Nasa scientist for 20 years, said these two events would combine in 2013 to produce huge levels of radiation.
He said large swathes of the world could face being without power for several months, although he admitted that was unlikely.
A more likely scenario was that large areas, including northern Europe and Britain which have “fragile” power grids, would be without power and access to electronic devices for hours, possibly even days.
He said preparations were similar to those in a hurricane season, where authorities knew a problem was imminent but did not know how serious it would be.
“I think the issue is now that modern society is so dependant on electronics, mobile phones and satellites, much more so than the last time this occurred,” he said.
“There is a severe economic impact from this. We take it very seriously. The economic impact could be like a large, major hurricane or storm.”
The National Academy of Sciences warned two years ago that power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications could “all be knocked out by intense solar activity”.
It warned a powerful solar storm could cause “twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina”. That storm devastated New Orleans in 2005 and left an estimated damage bill of more than $125bn (£85bn).
Dr Fisher said precautions could be taken including creating back up systems for hospitals and power grids and allow development on satellite “safe modes”.
“If you know that a hazard is coming … and you have time enough to prepare and take precautions, then you can avoid trouble,” he added.
His division, a department of the Science Mission Directorate at Nasa headquarters in Washington DC, which investigates the Sun’s influence on the earth, uses dozens of satellites to study the threat.
The government has said it was aware of the threat and “contingency plans were in place” to cope with the fall out from such a storm.
These included allowing for certain transformers at the edge of the National Grid to be temporarily switched off and to improve voltage levels throughout the network.
The National Risk Register, established in 2008 to identify different dangers to Britain, also has “comprehensive” plans on how to handle a complete outage of electricity supplies.
Scientists believe it could damage everything from emergency services’ systems, hospital equipment, banking systems and air traffic control devices, through to “everyday” items such as home computers, iPods and Sat Navs.
Due to humans’ heavy reliance on electronic devices, which are sensitive to magnetic energy, the storm could leave a multi-billion pound damage bill and “potentially devastating” problems for governments.
“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 navigations, air travel, the banking system, our computers, everything that is electronic. It will cause major problems for the world.
“Large areas will be without electricity power and to repair that damage will be hard as that takes time.”
Dr Fisher added: “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.”
A “space weather” conference in Washington DC last week, attended by Nasa scientists, policy-makers, researchers and government officials, was told of similar warnings.
While scientists have previously told of the dangers of the storm, Dr Fisher’s comments are the most comprehensive warnings from Nasa to date.
Dr Fisher, 69, said the storm, which will cause the Sun to reach temperatures of more than 10,000 F (5500C), occurred only a few times over a person’s life.
Every 22 years the Sun’s magnetic energy cycle peaks while the number of sun spots – or flares – hits a maximum level every 11 years.
Dr Fisher, a Nasa scientist for 20 years, said these two events would combine in 2013 to produce huge levels of radiation.
He said large swathes of the world could face being without power for several months, although he admitted that was unlikely.
A more likely scenario was that large areas, including northern Europe and Britain which have “fragile” power grids, would be without power and access to electronic devices for hours, possibly even days.
He said preparations were similar to those in a hurricane season, where authorities knew a problem was imminent but did not know how serious it would be.
“I think the issue is now that modern society is so dependant on electronics, mobile phones and satellites, much more so than the last time this occurred,” he said.
“There is a severe economic impact from this. We take it very seriously. The economic impact could be like a large, major hurricane or storm.”
The National Academy of Sciences warned two years ago that power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications could “all be knocked out by intense solar activity”.
It warned a powerful solar storm could cause “twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina”. That storm devastated New Orleans in 2005 and left an estimated damage bill of more than $125bn (£85bn).
Dr Fisher said precautions could be taken including creating back up systems for hospitals and power grids and allow development on satellite “safe modes”.
“If you know that a hazard is coming … and you have time enough to prepare and take precautions, then you can avoid trouble,” he added.
His division, a department of the Science Mission Directorate at Nasa headquarters in Washington DC, which investigates the Sun’s influence on the earth, uses dozens of satellites to study the threat.
The government has said it was aware of the threat and “contingency plans were in place” to cope with the fall out from such a storm.
These included allowing for certain transformers at the edge of the National Grid to be temporarily switched off and to improve voltage levels throughout the network.
The National Risk Register, established in 2008 to identify different dangers to Britain, also has “comprehensive” plans on how to handle a complete outage of electricity supplies.
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