Powerful solar storm could knock out the internet for months

A so-called “internet apocalypse” could be on the horizon as a result of an impending solar superstorm, a scientist warns. Professor Peter Becker, a lead researcher at George Mason University, recently told FOX Weather that the sun has been relatively quiet as the internet came of age, but there’s a 10 percent chance that in the next decade, “something really large is going to happen that could potentially wipe out the internet.” 

Becker pointed to the 1859 Carrington Event, the last time a coronal mass ejection (CME)—a large expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona that can distort our planet’s magnetic field—reached Earth. When a CME heads toward our planet, it can interfere with critical infrastructure such as power grids, satellites, navigation and GPS systems, radio transmitters and communications equipment. And solar storms are expected to become more violent and severe.

“It actually took out the telegraph system, sparks were literally flying off the telegraph lines,” Becker told FOX Weather about the Carrington Event. “So you lay that on top of the internet with its very delicate electronics, you’re talking about something that could really fry the system for a period of several weeks to months in terms of the time it would take to repair all the infrastructure.” The estimated economic disruption of such an event could cost the U.S. $10-$20 billion per day, Becker said. 

The likelihood of solar superstorms has risen as the sun approaches its most active phase. Experts at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center have predicted that the sun will reach its maximum—the peak of its 11-year cycle— between January and October 2024. 

Solar storms are challenging to predict so Becker is working with the Naval Research Laboratory to create an early warning system to warn of possible magnetic field disruptions within 18 to 24 hours to mitigate the problem. “If we have a warning, every minute counts because you can put satellites in safe mode,” he told FOX Weather. “You can take transformers off-line from the grid so they don’t fry…And then, more long term, you’re talking about hardening the internet.”