The makeup of the Earth beneath the Interstate 95 corridor could prove especially problematic in the event of a major solar storm, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a new report.
According to Bloomberg, the soon-to-be-released report found a 300-million-year-old rock beneath the surface of the Eastern Seaboard could amplify the next big solar storm all the way from Washington D.C. to Maine. The makeup of this rock wouldn’t allow the solar energy to go through it and would instead ricochet it back up to the surface, doubling the impacts in this region, the report also said.
“It’s an active problem that a lot of people are trying to solve and understand,” Space Weather Prediction Center scientist Christopher Balch told Bloomberg.
It’s believed that the type of geomagnetic storm capable of wiping out the grid happens once every century, but a worst-case scenario might result in widespread blackouts that could last for months, the Space Weather Prediction Center told Bloomberg.
USGS research geophysicist Jeffrey Love told Bloomberg that the new report is particularly important because the mid-Atlantic and Northeast hadn’t been previously studied in-depth with regards to how its geology would impact solar storms. Only the central U.S. was studied in this way, he added.
Next, Love and his team of scientists hope to map the Southwest; models are being developed so grid operators can better understand the impacts of geomagnetic storms on each region of the country, the report added.
“We only really have roughly 35 years of digital data,” Balch told Bloomberg. “Earth conductivity is something that is just beginning to be available in more realistic types of models.”
https://weather.com/news/news/2018-06-14-rocks-under-interstate-95-power-grid-fears
Betcha they find the Southwest to be especially conducive to massive anomalies of disastrous proportions….
Softening the public for HAARP earthquakes and other “natural” disasters.
What type of rock? Where else is it? When it happens we can’t jump to blame Iran or the Russians. It is what it is…nature.
Sounds like an iron ore problem. North Alabama has an overabundance…….