It has been known for years that the effect that a solar storm can have on global technology can be devastating. Power grids and devices are susceptible to breaking at any time due to one of these flares, and now a researcher has analyzed the catastrophic effects that these solar storms would have on the Internet .
At SIGCOMM 2021 , Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi presented research called ‘ Solar Superstorms : Planning for an Internet Apocalypse’, and the effects that a cloud of high-speed charged magnetic solar particles could have on the Internet on Earth .
Submarine cables, sensitive by repeaters
The most sensitive point is in the submarine cables. These cables are the backbone of the Internet worldwide, and serve to interconnect all countries and continents of the world with each other. Interestingly, local infrastructures would not be affected, so it would be like cutting a water pipe at the entrance of a building, for example, leaving all floors without water even though the pipes on each floor are fine.
This is because fiber optic cables as such are not affected by these geomagnetic currents, in addition to the fact that short cables are grounded quite frequently. However, things change with submarine cables, where the consequences of a solar storm in the middle, for example, of the first months of the pandemic, could have been devastating.
In recent history there have only been three major solar storms : in 1859, 1921, and 1989 . The first two were the strongest, causing breakdowns and cuts in the electricity supply and the telegraph lines. In 1859, the compasses began to oscillate uncontrollably, and the northern lights were seen in Colombia, at the very equator of the Earth. In 1989, Hydro-Québec’s power grid was blacked out for nine hours.
Repeaters use electricity to function
Thus, 32 years have passed since the last great solar event, and that period of low solar activity increases the probability that there will be another great event in the future. Submarine cables are the most susceptible to being affected for various reasons. The most important is that submarine cables have repeaters at distances of between 50 and 150 km from each other depending on the cable. With them, the optical signal is amplified and they ensure that nothing is lost in traffic. These repeaters run on electricity, and receive it through copper, which can be affected by solar storms.
Fiber optic cables, by transmitting light and not electrical signals, are not affected by solar activity. However, repeaters do, and also ground connections only occur every hundreds or thousands of kilometers , so a solar storm can disable several repeaters and render the cable inoperable. It would take weeks and even months to repair. Cables are more likely to be inoperative at high latitudes near north. In the equator the probability is lower, and regions such as Asia would be less affected thanks to this, since Singapore is one of the great interconnection centers, and it is located on the equator.
If submarine cables are affected, there is also the option of satellite communications with networks such as Starlink. The problem is that the equipment on Earth that they use to communicate would also be affected, so they could communicate with each other, but not get to send the signals correctly back to Earth. The chain failure could cause the DNS system to stop working, so even if there were survivors, they would not be able to access the Internet as their access requests could not be resolved.
Therefore, it is necessary to implement protection mechanisms for the Internet. The United States has several systems, but it is difficult to prepare for something whose scope is unknown, so no matter how much we prepare, a solar storm can continue to have devastating effects.