We have blogged on The Carrington Event numerous time over the years. It happened in 1859 before electricity was a widely used thing. If it happened today cell phones, electricity service, electronic ignition cars and basically every appliance that requires electricity could be useless…and it could last for months. Can you imagine what America would descend into if the lights went out for a week? How about a month or two?
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Last night the Earth experienced the strongest geomagnetic storm since 2017, but it was minor compared to the one triggered by the most powerful solar storm on record in 1859, known as the Carrington Event. Now, we learn the disruption to the Earth’s magnetic field during the Carrington Event was even greater than previously estimated. A combination of modern digital tracing and detailed reconstruction have mined records of the Earth’s magnetic field at the time to reveal more than was thought possible. The finding reinforces how vulnerable modern society could be to a repetition of an event like this.
On September 1, 1859, the Sun spewed electrified gas and subatomic particles amounting to the energy of 10 billion atomic bombs towards the planet, causing telegraph communications to fail, literally shocking operators, and causing systems to catch fire. Northern Lights were reported as far south as Cuba and Hawaii, allowing witnesses to read newspapers by the light of the auroras alone.
Solar storms have occurred throughout Earth’s existence. However, our estimates of scale relied on very indirect measures like the presence of certain radio-isotopes in tree rings. In recorded history reports of enormous auroras can hint at the timing of solar storms, but are of little use in estimating size. Consequently, our data on just how big solar storms can get stretches back less than two centuries.
As chance would have it, the Carrington Event, easily the largest storm in that time, occurred when such tracking was in its infancy. Records made at the time have been found to hold more information about the Event than had been thought, and it’s not good news for those preparing for future impacts in a more wired world.
Had the Carrington Event occurred even a few decades later than its actual date of 1859, it would have had electricity and long railway lines to electrify, not just telegraphs. At least, however, we’d have known its size better.
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