Doomsday Solar Cycle

[K3ZS]

Its not my main source of news but Fox News just had an interview with a scientist.  He predicted that the world's communication and power system will be crippled in 2012 at the maximum point of the next sunspot cycle.   He said previous predictions were miscalculated and the the next maximum is going to be many times greater than predicted.     Is this junk science or Fox News tendency to be alarmist?

[KB2WIG]

 " Is this junk science or Fox News tendency to be alarmist? "


It could be this, and more....

I doubt most 'journalists' have any real expertise in anything to do with science, financial or high teck... Gone are the days of news anchors reading the NASA technical manuals (like kb2gsd did) for information....   Not having a background in something you're reporting opens yourself up to being taken in (like n2nsd and Colloidal silver).

klc

[k4kyv]

I have heard predictions everywhere from that the next cycle could be the largest in known history, beating Cycle 19 in the late 50's, all the way to an extended period of low or no sunspots, like the 1645-1715 Maunder minimum.

It's like the issue of climate change and global warming: nobody knows for sure one way or the other, and everything we hear about it is speculative, at best.

And it's like our date with the Grim Reaper.  It won't be known until after the fact.

I remember Cycle 19.  Even though I was just a little JN not licensed at the time, I recall hams having solid QSO's with Europe on 10m using a few feet of wire strung across the  room as an antenna, 10m staying open for DX until late in the wee hours, and 20m remaining open 24/24.  

The only disruption would be from solar flares, and those happen every cycle.

But we are now almost totally  dependent on  satellites for long distance communication.  Solar flares burn holes in the ionosphere and the band goes on the rag for a few days, but the electronics in satellites can be permanently toasted.

[Tom WA3KLR]

This solar cycle sure is starting out different.

Here's an article that was in yesterday's paper about a pertubation in the earth's magnetic field measured last summer, a possible sign of another magnetic pole reversal here.  The sun's magnetic field poles reverse every solar cycle as mentioned in the later article link.

From Associated Press
Scientists find hole in Earth's magnetic field
Wed Dec 17, 7:07 am ET

LOS ANGELES – Recent satellite observations have revealed the largest breach yet seen in the magnetic field that protects Earth from most of the sun's violent blasts, researchers reported Tuesday. The discovery was made last summer by Themis, a fleet of five small NASA satellites.
Scientists have long known that the Earth's magnetic field, which guards against severe space weather, is similar to a drafty old house that sometimes lets in violent eruptions of charged particles from the sun. Such a breach can cause brilliant auroras or disrupt satellite and ground communications.
Observations from Themis show the Earth's magnetic field occasionally develops two cracks, allowing solar wind — a stream of charged particles spewing from the sun at 1 million mph — to penetrate the Earth's upper atmosphere.
Last summer, Themis calculated a layer of solar particles to be at least 4,000 miles thick in the outermost part of the Earth's magnetosphere, the largest tear of the protective shield found so far.
"It was growing rather fast," Themis scientist Marit Oieroset of the University of California, Berkeley told an American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
Such breaches are temporary, and the one observed last year lasted about an hour, Oieroset said.
Solar flares are a potential danger to astronauts in orbit but generally are not a risk to people on the surface of the Earth.
The research was funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation.
Scientists initially believed the greatest solar breach occured when the Earth's and sun's magnetic fields are pointed in opposite directions. But data from Themis found the opposite to be true. Twenty times more solar wind passed into the Earth's protective shield when the magnetic fields were aligned, Oieroset said.
The Themis results could have bearing on how scientists predict the severity of solar storms and their effects on power grids, airline and military communications and satellite signals.
The Themis satellites were launched to find the source of brief powerful geomagnetic disturbances in the Earth's atmosphere.

Here’s another article that talks about the earth and the sun’s magnetic pole shifts:

http://www.pureenergysystems.com/news/2005/02/27/6900064_Magnet_Pole_Shift/

A solar peak along with "our shields down" could leave us in for some big upsets.

[k4kyv]

" Fox News tendency to be alarmist? "

Does the bear shit in the woods?

(like n2nsd and Colloidal silver).

You must mean W2NSD, Wayne Green.


Now for something that could make for a doomsday scenario.  The magnetic poles flip and right during the transition period when the earth is minimally protected, the most intense sunspot cycle in recorded history hits its peak.

[WA1GFZ]

God said he wasn't going to use water next time.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

A big meteor could hit us. Aliens could invade. The sky could fall.

All the TV news outlets are alarmist. Some even make up alarmist news (fake documents and all).

[WA1GFZ]

WOW, I need to build a fall out shelter. I'll have the XYL stock up on cans of beans.

[Jim KF2SY]

The aliens are already here!
I saw it on FOX's "Alien Autopsy" some years ago.
where ya' been? 
sheeesh...

 

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Bummer. I missed it. It makes sense though. All this technology we have could not have come from us stupid humans.

[Bill, KD0HG]

Faux News?

[WA1GFZ]

It is 4-1 every day at Fox

[KA8WTK]

I'll have the XYL stock up on cans of beans.

You mean cans of beer.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

LOL. The faux people never used fake documents like CBS. They never faked a car blowing up like NBC.

Faux News?

[k4kyv]

All the TV news outlets are alarmist.

On to-day's commercial TV channels, by definition.  They do whatever will attract the most viewers to watch their sponsor's commercials and increase their ratings. Service to the public is a by-product, pretty far down on their priority list.

That's why I rely very little on TV to get news.

[W3RSW]

Well then I hope you don't still subscribe to "Time."

- circulation 100 and falling.

Pretty much a given that newspapers, weekly news mags, et. al. have failed or lost their mandate, i.e., reporting of reliable news instead of lock-step opinion.  Circulation is, believe it or not, dependent on factual information not just type of media.

[WA1GFZ]

Time= a week late and $5 more

[Jim, W5JO]

The print and electronic media seem to have lost their way.  Investigative reporting that is unbiased will produce more readers/viewers than all the sensationalism combined.  The problems with the medial is they are perceived to be in the pockets of just one political party and rely on deception to prove the point they want to advance, be it political or business based.  

About 1/2 of the population aren't of that persuasion and are tired of the BS spouted nightly/daily.  The media has become the story in many instances, sure doom.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

That's why I rely very little on TV to get news.

Absolutely, Don. Everyone knows that the only place to get news is on the internet. The myriad of 'three-headed kangaroo holds woman hostage' type topics you provide us with is proof. It also makes the thought of retirement more frightening each day. 

I saw the above-mentioned report, it was actually a well-known physicist who appears often on PBS (which should sooth and reassure the anti-Fox crowd) and other programs saying that physicists made a mistake in their predictions and wanted to correct it and encourage folks to think about backup plans for electrical distribution systems, communications and so on. His remarks referred to the potential damage done by the solar wind to satellites and power grids. Some may actually remember this happening not too many years back when solar flares/coronal mass ejections caused power disruptions by striking power lines in Canada and elsewhere causing the control circuitry to see overload conditions. Seems a couple satellites got trashed as well.

The related story is here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,468268,00.html

Pretty interesting, actually. Sure, not as much fun as trolling to some, but hey. 

Well then I hope you don't still subscribe to "Time."

- circulation 100 and falling.

Pretty much a given that newspapers, weekly news mags, et. al. have failed or lost their mandate, i.e., reporting of reliable news instead of lock-step opinion.  Circulation is, believe it or not, dependent on factual information not just type of media.

The recent NYT and Tribune financial problems prove this point well. The NYT had to mortgage somewhere around $250 mil of their building in the city, and Tribune was filing for bankruptcy last I heard. NBC is dumping its 10PM lineup and moving Leno there in hopes of recovering some ratings cred. Still, the recent election removed any remaining doubts about bias in the media for those who actually pay attention to such things. They'll continue to pay the price.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Hmm seems my post didn't survive the sensor... 

guess I'll stick to the radio related threads from now on.

[WA1GFZ]

Don't forget the pill pushers every 5 minutes pushing the latest disease

[Bill, KD0HG]

LOL. The faux people never used fake documents like CBS. They never faked a car blowing up like NBC.

Faux News?

They *all* suck, Steve. Horrid.

[KA1ZGC]

LOL. The faux people never used fake documents like CBS. They never faked a car blowing up like NBC.

Neither did they program their viewers to beleive that giving more than one side of the story is "bias", or that leaving you to draw your own conclusions is "propaganda".

Maybe that's where they screwed up?

[K1JJ]

Please don't axe me my opinion of news media, reporters, etc.

BTW, the Hartford Courant, the largest paper in CT and the OLDEST cotinuously published newspaper in America, which covered every presidential election (after Washington) is fading fast. They have laid off 25% of their staff and the newspaper has shrunk to a frickin rag of thin pages of advertisments and some news.  The parent company, The Tribune, has filed for the big "B."

To have survived for centuries and now losing steam tells us not only is the economy having a serious effect, but perhaps we are seeing the actual demise of news printed media, brought on by the internet, cable, etc.

It saddens me, not cuz they're fading, but cuz on Sunday we get a huge phone book of slick colored advertising fillers. All crap. I feel sorry for all the trees that have given up their lives for such endeavors. They deserve better, like being sailing masts or chop sticks.  Printed news media, RIP.  VIVA Trees!

T

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Yea, but you have to admin, Fox has the hottest female news babes.  ; -)

LOL. The faux people never used fake documents like CBS. They never faked a car blowing up like NBC.

Faux News?

They *all* suck, Steve. Horrid.