Search Results for: cme

Building a Simple Faraday Cage, by OhioGalt

This article describes the effects of EMP and CME and how to build a simple inexpensive Faraday cage. Most readers of the SurvivalBlog are aware of the potential damage from either a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) or an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and the impact on everyday electronics. With an EMP, an electromagnetic pulse is generated at high altitudes from a nuclear explosion damaging sensitive electronics. A CME damages electronics in a similar way with the release of a large solar flare from the sun reaches carrying magnetic fluxes and plasma toward earth. These magnetic fluxes interfere with Earth’s magnetic fields and create current surges in power systems and electronics. As of this writing, there is several C and M class flare activity causing some Amateur Radio blackouts on the lower bands. To follow active solar weather visit Spaceweather.com. Some History Examples of EMP results can be studied from a high-altitude…


Two Letters Re: Solar Storms

Dear Jim, Regarding the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) that occurred this week that everyone is concerned about. I advise some caution in over-reacting to these types of events. While the CME itself was of a very high magnitude and is spectacular in images, it was never anticipated that it would cause us any problems. Predictions for auroral activity were only in the high latitudes, and auroral activity is a dead-giveaway as to how strong the impact on the ground will be. The spectacular images we have all seen over the last week immediately told me we had nothing to be concerned about. The CME was silhouetted against dark space; meaning the majority of the CME was pointed away from earth out into space. It’s the less spectacular images we should be concerned about, when the CME occurs directly facing the earth with only the sun’s surface in the background. The…


Letter From David in Israel Re: Solar Storms

…like you imagine with the fictional starship USS Enterprise. The first shielding the Earth gets is the existing low speed solar wind. This slow moving plasma literally creates a traffic jam around the sun. A big CME can push this out of the way but it expends much of its energy to do this. The late August 1859 CME knocked the path clear of the low energy/speed solar plasma. With the way swept cleared by the late August CMEs the early September events were able move at full speed against the earths magnetosphere, our secondary shields in only 18 hours moving at over half a million miles an hour! Once the high energy plasma strike arrives and sweeps across the earths magnetic field it acts like a a magnet waved across a coil of wire in your third grade science class, electrical current is produced. Any antenna long enough to…


Solar Storms, EMPs, Nukes, and Cyberattacks – Part 1 by Pulse Prepper

…powered them. The Carrington Event was not the only serious solar storm to hit the earth. According to analysis of tree rings, the years 774 and 993 also marked some devastating solar events. The 774 event was found to be a staggering 30 to 70 times stronger than the Carrington Event. In more recent history, the 1921 Geomagnetic Storm unleashed a CME that caused telegraph buildings to burst into flame in Europe and the United States. The 1989 Quebec CME On March 13, 1989, a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) hit the Earth. Especially affected was Quebec, Canada. The CME caused the power grid to fail. During the nine- hour blackout that followed, millions found themselves with no light or heat. Solar flares are ranked in five categories by intensity: A, B, C, M, and X, with X-class flares the strongest. Any X-class flare that is earth-facing between a magnitude…


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, a closer look at the threat of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). An Extremely Rare Farside Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) Over at Spaceweather: Extremely Rare CME. Here are a couple of quotes: “Something big just happened on the farside of the sun. During the early hours of March 13th, SOHO coronagraphs recorded a farside halo CME leaving the sun faster than 3000 km/s. Because of its extreme speed, this CME is classified as “extremely rare,” a fast-mover that occurs…


Top Six Common Questions Concerning An EMP, by Old Bobbert

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…from a split second surge. They burn out when they are cycling at 200% of their max rating for hours. The transformers are the most EMP resistant part of the system. Old, but not yet senile, electrical engineer There’s a lot of misinformation in these comments about the seriousness of an EMP or CME event on everything electric. For a reliable assessment from a PhD in Electrical Engineering who specializes in this area while work for NASA see: https://www.amazon.com/Disaster-Preparedness-Attacks-Storms-Expanded-ebook/dp/B0096SRC8U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1510900046&sr=8-2&keywords=emp I recommend his book because I am a Registered Professional Engineer in Electrical Engineering, have read the book linked above, and can state that it is accurate and well-written and balanced. In short, whether by EMP (human generated) [or by CME (nature generated, solar), same basic threat] this kind of event is exceedingly dangerous to everything electrical that has not been specifically protected against the level of threat. An EMP is…


EMP Shield, by Pat Cascio

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…a metal 55 gallon drum with a removable top would be better protection from possible physical damage, but the Mylar was cheaper, and I happen to have it. It is hard to find, yet a Mylar emergency blanket, or two taped together, might be large enough, and less expensive, or easier to find than either type of metal can, and more compact. I believe the threat from a CME is greater that from an EMP as we are far away from ground zero. A CME could also be much stronger and wide spread. EMP would likely take out parts of the grid, and leave the rest undamaged. An attacker would probably prefer an infrastructure intact if their goal was conquest, and it would be more advantageous to simply starve us into submission. Who would do such a thing? Who has the motive, means, and opportunity? China. They are the only…


Letter Re: The Latest Solar Flares

David in Israel warned of a possible “kill shot” CME after the latest impact. As quoted by UrbanSurvival.com, here it comes, possibly on Sunday night: “SOHO/LASCO detected a full halo CME in association with the M6.3 flare in Catania sunspot group 65 (NOAA AR 1429) this morning. The CME first appeared in the LASCO C2 field of view at 04:14 UT and had a speed around 750 km/s. We expect the CME arrival at the Earth late on March 11 – early on March 12. An evaluation of the possible erupting flux rope orientation on the basis of HMI photospheric magnetograms and AIA images of the post-eruption arcade gives the south-east-north (SEN, left-handed) configuration. Due to the position of the CME source region close to the solar central meridian, we expect a nearly central encounter of the resulting ICME, which will probably be a magnetic cloud with leading southward field….


Post-Collapse Barter: The Value of Silver – Part 1, by Dr. Derek King

…Hard when the bad guys caused a “fire sale” breakdown where “everything must go.” That meant power, water, communications, transportations and financial services – gone. Jobs, gone. Shipping, gone. Schools, gone. Stocks, gone. Police, gone. And roving gangs…organized and on the prowl. When asked if silver would ever reach $1000, Allen Fordham in 2019 on Quora.com blog stated, “I can’t see anything happening this century that would prevent market forces of supply and demand from stabilizing the price of silver far below $1000 an ounce.” This naive, closed-minded simpleton just chose to ignore the two main possibilities I am discussing on this topic (EMP and CME). Sure, put your head in the sand and keep the status quo and metals will stay with a narrow “normal” range…but…meet Mr. Murphy and his catastrophic Law… An EMP or CME will fry our grid and the whole country is plunged into darkness- Permanently!…


Dark Age 2.0: Melee Weapons – Part 2, by Dr. Joseph

…to discuss the solar threat, the 1859 Carrington Event caused telegraph lines to catch on fire, but today, the electronic infrastructure is much more extensive. [42] While some theorists have written that a TEOTWAWKI event like this is not likely, but still possible [43], others put the probability of another Carrington Event to be 12 percent per annum. [44] However, on 23 July, 2012 a CME almost as powerful as the Carrington Event, narrowly missed the Earth. If it had directly hit dead-on, according to NASA, the damage would be massive, perhaps taking up to 10 years to repair, if at all. [45] There have been many smaller CMEs since that time, but the really significant one occurred on March 12, 2023, where a CME erupted from the side of the sun, opposite the Earth; the CME was 10 to a hundred times more powerful than the Carrington Event of…


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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…something deadly is a serious deterrent. As a prepper, I have a deep level of risk aversion or risk resistance. j.m.z.b. St. Funogas This sums up colodial silver. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/expert-answers/colloidal-silver/faq-20058061 This one explains more with sources. https://www.rxlist.com/body_vitamin_e_benefits_for_your/article.htm. Tunnel Rabbit Re: Bosnia Inspired by Wheatly Fisher’s book suggestion about what happen in Bosnia (thank you): Biblesnbarbells You Tube channel has a series discussing some highlights from the book. “A video review of Selco Begovic’s new book- The Dark Secrets of SHTF Survival.” https://youtu.be/0RT2feyhfgg https://youtu.be/EbXefkwkl0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-pBbG3Q8uo – Mike Adam’s new website. cut and paste into search engine. https://www.pandemic.news/ – Charles K. The difference between the CME and the EMP is time. The CME gives notice. Assuming our government tells us when the CME leaves the sun, you have time, hours, to disconnect your house from the grid. You have time to unplug everything in your house. You have time to isolate your solar…


David in Israel on Coronal Mass Ejections

I’m writing to remind readers that the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) that began March 8, 2012 will sweep away low speed particles clearing the way for a few days for a somewhat possible 1859 Carrington Event style kill shot should there be another large CME.  I suggest that SurvivalBlog readers keep up to date on SpaceWeather.com though utilities and emergency services will also be watching this.  Even if there is another larger CME and the utilities disconnect to save their equipment any long conductor can act as an antenna for the radio waves produced by an ionospheric event. So be ready to check electrical connections to any large metal objects, disconnect antennas and even pull removable power supplies. Good grounding is always a good idea even if there is no EMP/CME worries [since lightning is a day-to-day risk.] Purim Somayach – David in Israel JWR Adds: SurvivalBlog reader Randy K….


Letter Re: Coronal Mass Ejections and Their Consequences

Good Morning James, The recent coronal mass ejection (CME) began interacting with the terrestrial magnetosphere earlier today. Though initially that interaction was rather subdued a rapid fall-off in the proton particle counters is actually leading to some rather elevated readings over at the Rice.edu monitor site. Polar convection, density and velocity are all registering in the yellow band, while the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) magnitude, angle and the dynamic pressure are all passed up into the red zones. It is worth remembering that a CME consists of hot, charged particles (ionized hydrogen primarily) and as such the situation is similar to the current in the wall of your house when a light switch is flipped on. At the fundament then a “current” of hot gas passing around the earth interacting with the geomagnetic field of same is virtually identical to an electric motor though the geometry seems different. It is…


Backup Power Generation Considerations, by Tractorguy

…degrees in 12 hours, and would cool back down to 5 degrees in about two hours of operation. EMP and CME Events Finally, since we are looking at preparedness for a major disaster such as an EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) or CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) event, the susceptibility to failure of delicate solid-state electronics in your backup power system to these power surges cannot be overemphasized. You need to have an electrically-shielded enclosure – a Faraday cage – to store sensitive electronics NOW, before they are lost to an EMP or CME power surge. This can be as simple as a metal garbage can with a tight-fitting lid, with the items stored inside kept insulated from each other, such as in cardboard boxes. Search ‘Faraday Cage’ on the Internet for further information. However, in the event of a high field strength EMP/CME event, the following will likely be damaged or destroyed:…


Letter: EMP Foil Wrap

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…I’m still learning. Several of the letters above are on track, others not so much. First: EMP and CME are quite different; CME poses no significant risk other than through wild swings of powerline voltage and eventual grid damage/failure. EMP’s E3 wave has the CME risk, while the E1 wave (a nanoseconds-long pulse of immense electromagnetic field, roughly 25 kV/meter at peak) is what may damage any semiconductor device with more than several inches of wire connected to it that isn’t significantly protected. Tube gear in tests conducted many years ago appeared FAR more impervious….tho protection is still advisable. One writer hits the nail on the head above: if you have to keep your gear in Faraday cages forever, how are you ever going to use it? {there may be more than ONE attack, right?} Second: Please forget “ground”. this is a waste of time, folks. Faraday cages do not…