The worst solar storm to hit Earth in 20 years or more left behind memories of auroras, and some tractors driving around in circles.
The worst solar storm to hit Earth in decades is over. There are a few takeaways to consider already, and overall, the news is good. Considering that there was considerable attention to the event due to the colorful displays as far south as Puerto Rico, any large-scale breakdowns would be picked up by reporters. It seems that some effects from the storm were correctly predicted, and that there were a related surprises, but overall, we have learned some lessons regarding how to deal with this type of storm. There were no system-wide disasters.
Power grids
One of the greatest concerns whenever a geomagnetic storm occurs is the effect on power grids, especially the parts connected to long power lines. In the past, storms such as this have knocked out electrical power across regions as power systems failed and relays shunting power demand (or load) could overwhelm parts of the system that would otherwise be affected. The best known example of this took place in Quebec in 1989. However, equipment has been damaged elsewhere, such as in Sweden, where power transformers have been knocked out.
The solution has been to take more susceptible sections offline until the worst is over. This is what electrical companies in New Zealand reported on Friday that they would do. The result is that there were no wide-scale problems with electricity.
Satellites
Starlink lost 40 satellites during a major solar storm in 2022. So far, no satellites are reported as being inoperable due to the storm. If none are discovered as disabled in the coming days, it will be a very good sign as to how robust our satellites are, physically.
Communications with Earth did suffer. Without going into detail, Elon Musk reported that Starlink was under “a lot of pressure” during the worst of the storm, but that it was still working.
Agriculture
While the effects of solar storms on satellite navigation are well known, the effects on the machines that rely on them depend on those systems, and there are unknowns. The May 10-11 storm did expose a weakness in an industry that I not usually connected with the effect of such phenomena.
Farmers in South Dakota and Nebraska in particular reported that their satellite-connected farm equipment was malfunctioning. John Deere RTK positioning systems, which can provide 1cm accuracy for planting, was particularly affected, but they were not the only ones.
John Deere alerted users:
“Please be advised that there is significant solar flare and space weather activity currently affecting GPS and RTK networks. This severe geomagnetic storm is the worst since 2005 and is forecasted to continue throughout the weekend.”
Aviation
In 2003, airlines rerouted and postponed flights to avoid the worst effects of a solar storm. This time, no such changes were reported. The Federal Aviation Administration announced on X on Friday that they did not expect any issues with commercial aviation due to the event.
Thus far, the world’s economy seems to be unaffected by the event. The largest problem will be with crops planted over the course of the weekend, and whether the farm equipment will be able to even find these plants later in the season.
