A CME is Headed for Earth! Are You Ready to Communicate Potential Impacts?

Are you and your station prepared if a strong CME were headed toward Earth? As the station scientist can you communicate to your audience the potential impacts and how to prepare if and when a major geomagnetic storm heads our way?

During the Sun’s eleven-year activity cycle, solar activity and resulting space weather ramps up as it approaches solar max. And it’s happening now! That means the potential for impacts from solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME) is on the rise. What if the equivalent of the infamous 1859 Carrington Event were to happen today? Back then, a CME created a strong geomagnetic storm that caused major disruptions and damage across the globe to the telegraph and compass-reliant navigation systems. Heliophysics and space weather experts say it’s difficult to predict what would happen today, but a direct impact could cause significant disruptions to the power grid, such as rolling blackouts and damage to transformers, along with loss of small satellites in low orbit and impacts to air traffic worldwide and in-space astronaut operations.

We’ve already had a glimpse of some of what might happen. A strong geomagnetic storm in 1989 took out power grids across the US and in Canada. And in 2022, intensified solar activity and the resulting geomagnetic storm lay waste to 38 Starlink satellites.

With improved understanding and detection methods, infrastructure preparations, and an official space weather alert and warning system, could significant impacts of a big space weather event be avoided? What should you know about space weather and its potential impacts as we head toward solar max?

In this session we bring together leading astrophysicists, space weather forecasters, and grid operators to answer and discuss the timely question: What would happen if the Carrington Event struck today and how likely is it to happen?