The Sun is anticipated to enter a phase known as "solar maximum" within the next couple of years. This period is characterized by heightened solar activity and has raised concerns about a potential "internet apocalypse."
As per a report from The Washington Post, the current digital infrastructure is ill-equipped to handle the consequences of severe solar storms, which have the capacity to disrupt global communication networks. This renewed attention to the Sun's solar cycle emphasizes the potentially devastating impact on Earth's communication systems.
Will the Internet Apocalypse Happen? NASA Remains Silent
The term "internet apocalypse" has gained attention among social media users, resulting in a flood of misinformation and unverified warnings purportedly from NASA. However, the American space agency has not made any official statements as of now regarding the possibility of the 2025 solar storm causing the end of the Internet.
However, speculation has arisen regarding the implications for the "always online" population if such an event were to occur. Are these concerns merely exaggerated hype? The Washington Post suggests that they are not entirely baseless.
Recent concerns and panic circulating online were triggered by the recent findings from NASA's Parker Solar Probe, which was launched in 2018 to study the sun's physics and atmosphere, not to address internet connectivity issues.
The probe's research, focusing on the source of solar winds through magnetic reconnection, while not directly related to solar storms, has broader significance as changes in the sun's magnetic activity can occur rapidly and impact various solar phenomena.
A powerful solar storm, a rare occurrence in today's interconnected world, could strike the Earth and lead to widespread internet disruptions. Historical events, such as the Carrington Event of 1859, sparked telegraph lines and operators suffered electric shocks, as well as the 1989 solar storm that caused a temporary power grid failure in Quebec.
Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, a computer science professor at the University of California, Irvine, who played a significant role in popularizing the term "Solar Superstorms: Planning for an Internet Apocalypse," told Washington Post that it remains unknown how Earth's infrastructures would respond to such event.
Jyothi warns that a severe solar storm is likely to disrupt large-scale infrastructure, including undersea communication cables, potentially causing interruptions in long-distance connectivity. The report suggests that these outages could persist for months, with the economic impact of just a single day of lost connectivity estimated to exceed $11 billion in the United States alone.
READ ALSO : What is the Solar Cycle 25?
When Is Solar Maximum Expected To Happen?
The Sun undergoes a cycle characterized by periods of calm and intense activity, which involves the flipping of its magnetic poles during the peak of activity known as solar maximum, followed by a period of quiet called solar minimum.
According to CNN, solar maximum is initially predicted to occur in July 2025, experts now anticipate that the peak of solar activity, or solar maximum, is more likely to happen in the latter half of 2024.
The heightened solar activity has encompassed powerful solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are massive discharges of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun's outer atmosphere. These solar storms have the potential to impact electric power grids, GPS systems, aviation, and satellites orbiting close to Earth. They can also lead to radio blackouts and pose risks for manned space missions.
An illustrative incident occurred on January 29, 2022, when a sequence of coronal mass ejections emanated from the sun, causing the outer atmosphere of Earth to heat and expand. This expansion resulted in the burning up of 38 out of 49 Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX. However, this upsurge in solar activity is not uncommon and is expected to persist as solar maximum approaches.
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