‘Internet apocalypse’: Increased solar activity fuels internet blackout rumors

Solar activity is ramping up at a rate faster than scientists predicted, fueling speculation of a potential global internet blackout. Social media users are abuzz with discussions about a looming “internet apocalypse.”

While experts assert that fears of an impending blackout are exaggerated, the concerns are not entirely fiction.

Since 2019, the sun has been in a phase known as “Solar Cycle 25.” During these cycles, scientists monitor events occurring in the sun’s atmosphere.

At the commencement of the current cycle, the National Weather Service predicted that peak sunspot activity would happen in 2025, with the overall activity of the cycle being “fairly weak”. However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently reported that the cycle has escalated at a much faster pace than initially predicted.

Solar activity can have a direct impact on Earth and that’s why experts track it.

“Tracking and predicting the Sun’s solar cycles gives a rough idea of the frequency of space weather storms of all types – from radio blackouts to geomagnetic storms and solar radiation storms – and it’s used by many industries to gauge the potential impact of space weather on Earth,” NOAA explains.

NOAA says that extreme geomagnetic storms could result in complete collapse or blackouts in certain grid systems, reports CBS.

While this raises concerns about the possibility of an internet apocalypse, the term is not officially used by NOAA or NASA. Rather, it seemingly originates from a 2021 research paper authored by a computer science professor in California.

The research paper examined solar superstorms capable of causing widespread internet outages across the globe. The paper describes these events as “one of the greatest dangers facing the internet.”

Nevertheless, the paper noted the likelihood of an extreme space weather event directly impacting Earth ranges from 1.6% to 12% every decade. It is a statistical analysis that has seemingly contributed to heightened concerns amidst reports of increased solar activity.

Researchers emphasize that Solar Cycle 25, which we are currently experiencing, is expected to be average to solar cycles in the past century.

The most significant solar storm ever recorded, known as the Carrington Event in 1859, wreaked havoc on telegraph systems worldwide. NASA reports that the event literally shocked telegraph operators and set telegraph paper on fire.

“What Carrington saw was a white-light solar flare—a magnetic explosion on the sun,” explains David Hathaway, solar physics team lead at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

If a similar event were to occur today, NOAA says it could inflict severe damage on satellites, disrupt communication systems encompassing telephones, radios, and televisions, and trigger widespread electrical blackouts that could take weeks or longer to fix.

Despite social media users propagating these doomsday predictions, events of such magnitude are thought to occur only once every 500 years.

In 2018, NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe, a mission aimed at studying our fiery star up close. The probe has been journeying through the sun’s atmosphere, collecting data on solar winds, particles, and other pertinent phenomena. The agency says the information has the potential to enhance our comprehension of the sun and aid in predicting future space weather events.