Here comes the sun(spots) — what are the real risks in solar storms?

PING

In this episode of PING Jaap Akkerhuis (NLNet Labs), Ulrich Spiedel (University of Auckland) and Russ White (Juniper) discuss the issues behind Sunspots, ionisation in the atmosphere and its effects on satellite communications and terrestrial infrastructure based on wires in the air: Power grids and data services.

In two blogs Good day sunshine and Solar Storms and the Internet we've highlighted the potential risks from increases in solar activity such as solar flares and the associated Coronal Mass Ejection or CME.

Spectacular as the effects on earths atmosphere can be, The risk of these events is quite high, if things line up badly for us: It's possible for there to be compounding effects on Satellite systems orbit, their electrical components, their lifetime in orbit (due to repositioning costs burning fuel to cope with the event) as well as effects on land as the suspended wires in power grids and data communications act as antenna, and produce voltage "spikes" to attached equipment at the end, as well as along the path.

However, as explored in this episode of PING the situation is often overblown by the news cycle, and it's more a story about being prepared with resilience in systems exposed to risk and understanding those risks.

Read more about solar storms and their impact on infrastructure, satellite communications and space weather:

• Good day, sunshine (George Michaelson, May 2023)
• Solar storms and the Internet (Ulrich Spiedel, July 2021)
• APNIC Blog articles about Satellite Communications
• The Space Weather website (as mentioned by Jaap in the podcast)