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StaleCanole t1_ixlv37t wrote

Reply to comment by ComfortableCarrot631 in If a solar flare were to wipe most if not all technology, what plans/countermeasure could be taken to slow rebuild things like the internet? by Zak_the_Reaper

A solar flare wouldn’t hit the whole globe though - only half if it, if that

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NirogenCube t1_ixnpde2 wrote

It's not the actual solar flare you worrie about. It's the tail and whipping effect of the magnetosphere and ionosphere. A large enough solar flare would cause these two two parts of earths defense mechanism to become incredibly unstable and thin. Not to mention solar forcing and the ionized particals to enter and exit the earths ground.

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NirogenCube t1_ixox5wh wrote

I think the greater issue at hand is the rapidly weakening of earths magnetism and magnetic feild. Not to mention the fact we are in the middle of a geomagnetic excursion. The last time this happened was the laschamp event which is argued to be the event that killed Neanderthals.

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grundar t1_ixpfhvg wrote

> The last time this happened was the laschamp event

Per this paper the last time there was a validated geomagnetic excursion was Mono Lake, 8,000 years after Laschamp.

> which is argued to be the event that killed Neanderthals.

Not really an "event", as it lasted 1,000 years, but there is indeed one paper which argues this. Comments published on that paper (essentially mini-papers of their own) indicate that that is a fairly controversial claim.

However, that may not be a near-term concern, as the earth's magnetic field has weakened only 10% over the last 180 years, and is apparently not likely to flip any time soon.

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