we are common insignificant sinners with an uncompromising passion for the advancement of the Judeo-Christian faith.

the ecumenical examiner is dedicated to the power and glory of the God of Creation, Yahweh, and Yeshua the Messiah.

look around this old world at the ever-increasing levels of violence and corruption, and know this - - what we used to understand as 'normal' isn't coming back - - Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) is.


What if the biggest solar storm on record
were to happen today?

  A repeat of the 1859 Carrington Event would devastate the modern world, experts say.




BY RICHARD A. LOVETT FOR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NEWS
PUBLISHED MARCH 4, 2011
















   "It's been hibernating for four or five years, not doing much of anything." Now the sun is waking up, and even though the upcoming solar maximum may see a record low in the overall amount of activity, the individual events could be very powerful.
   In fact, the biggest solar storm on record happened in 1859, during a solar maximum about the same size as the one we're entering, according to NASA.


   That storm has been dubbed the Carrington Event, after British astronomer Richard Carrington, who witnessed the megaflare and was the first to realize the link between activity on the sun and geomagnetic disturbances on Earth.


   During the Carrington Event, northern lights were reported as far south as Cuba and Honolulu, while southern lights were seen as far north as Santiago, Chile.


   The flares were so powerful that "people in the northeastern U.S. could read newspaper print just from the light of the aurora," Daniel Baker, of the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, said at a geophysics meeting last December.


   In addition, the geomagnetic disturbances were strong enough that U.S. telegraph operators reported sparks leaping from their equipment—some bad enough to set fires, said Ed Cliver, a space physicist at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Bedford, Massachusetts.


   In 1859, such reports were mostly curiosities. But if something similar happened today, the world's high-tech infrastructure could grind to a halt.


   "What's at stake," the Space Weather Prediction Center's Bogdan said, "are the advanced technologies that underlie virtually every aspect of our lives."


Solar Flare Would Rupture Earth's "Cyber Cocoon"


   To begin with, the University of Colorado's Baker said, electrical disturbances as strong as those that took down telegraph machines—"the Internet of the era"—would be far more disruptive.


   Solar storms aimed at Earth come in three stages, not all of which occur in any given storm.


   First, high-energy sunlight, mostly x-rays and ultraviolet light, ionizes Earth's upper atmosphere, interfering with radio communications. Next comes a radiation storm, potentially dangerous to unprotected astronauts.


   Finally comes a coronal mass ejection, or CME, a slower moving cloud of charged particles that can take several days to reach Earth's atmosphere. When a CME hits, the solar particles can interact with Earth's magnetic field to produce powerful electromagnetic fluctuations.


   "We live in a cyber cocoon enveloping the Earth," Baker said. "Imagine what the consequences might be."


   Of particular concern are disruptions to global positioning systems (GPS), which have become ubiquitous in cell phones, airplanes, and automobiles, Baker said. A $13 billion business in 2003, the GPS industry is predicted to grow to nearly $1 trillion by 2017.


   In addition, Baker said, satellite communications—also essential to many daily activities—would be at risk from solar storms.
"Every time you purchase a gallon of gas with your credit card, that's a satellite transaction," he said.


   But the big fear is what might happen to the electrical grid, since power surges caused by solar particles could blow out giant transformers. Such transformers can take a long time to replace, especially if hundreds are destroyed at once, said Baker, who is a co-author of a National Research Council report on solar-storm risks.


   The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Cliver agrees: "They don't have a lot of these on the shelf," he said.


   The eastern half of the U.S. is particularly vulnerable, because the power infrastructure is highly interconnected, so failures could easily cascade like chains of dominoes.


   "Imagine large cities without power for a week, a month, or a year," Baker said. "The losses could be $1 to $2 trillion, and the effects could be felt for years."


   Even if the latest solar maximum doesn't bring a Carrington-level event, smaller storms have been known to affect power and communications.


   The "Halloween storms" of 2003, for instance, interfered with satellite communications, produced a brief power outage in Sweden, and lighted up the skies with ghostly auroras as far south as Florida and Texas.


Buffing Up Space-Weather Predictions


   One solution is to rebuild the aging power grid to be less vulnerable to solar disruptions.


   Another is better forecasting. Scientists using the new Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft are hoping to get a better understanding of how the sun behaves as it moves deeper into its next maximum and begins generating bigger storms.


   These studies may help scientists predict when and where solar flares might appear and whether a given storm is pointed at Earth.


"Improved predictions will provide more accurate forecasts, so [officials] can take mitigating actions," said Rodney Viereck, a physicist at the Space Weather Prediction Center.


   Even now, the center's Bogdan said, the most damaging emissions from big storms travel slowly enough to be detected by sun-watching satellites well before the particles strike Earth. "That gives us [about] 20 hours to determine what actions we need to take," Viereck said.


   In a pinch, power companies could protect valuable transformers by taking them offline before the storm strikes. That would produce local blackouts, but they wouldn't last for long.


   "The good news is that these storms tend to pass after a couple of hours," Bogdan added.


   Meanwhile, scientists are scrambling to learn everything they can about the sun in an effort to produce even longer-range forecasts.


   According to Vierick, space-weather predictions have some catching up to do: "We're back where weather forecasters were 50 years ago."



. . . the Sixth Angel

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. (Revelation 16:13,14)


. . . the Seventh Angel

Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!" And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent (about 75 pounds, or 35 kilograms). Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great. (Revelation 16:17-21)


On February 14 [2011] the sun erupted with the largest solar flare seen in four years - big enough to interfere with radio communications and GPS signals for airplanes on long-distance flights.


As solar storms go, the Valentine's Day flare was actually modest. But the burst of activity is only the start of the upcoming solar maximum, due to peak in the next couple of years.


"The sun has an activity cycle, much like hurricane season," Tom Bogdan, director of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, said earlier this month at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.

Are the prophecies of Revelation chapter 16 coming true? Repent and give glory to God Almighty. Be prepared, and thankful for the plagues, and the prophecies they fulfill. Pray for the Kingdom to come. Amen. Hallelujah.

A consideration of Revelation chapter 16

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth." (Revelation 16:1)


. . . the Fourth Angel

Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire.

And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. (Revelation 16:8,9)

The Fourth Angel

These series of plagues, enumerated in Revelation, are analogous to the Ten Plagues of Egypt, where God forced Pharaoh to let the Hebrews slaves go free. Except that in this iteration there are only seven, and these will not be localized, but envelope the whole world. The entire world of humankind will experience this sequential chain of plagues. It's already begun, but we haven't got to the fourth angel yet, unless it can be interpreted as solar induced climate change. Bear in mind, the language of Revelation is filled with figurative allegory, and symbolism. It can be difficult to interpret.

   Even so, how prepared are you for what's coming next? They say that if such an event as is described in this article, were to occur, 90% of the human race would be dead within a year. This is due to our absolute dependence on high tech systems, electrical grids, and satellites, all of which are so vulnerable to EMP, solar flares, or CME bursts.

Consider this - In the event of a powerful Solar Flare event, there would be no way to power down nuclear power plants, and the hundreds of such plants around the world would go into total melt down. Currently, there are some 440 nuclear reactors in operation in some 30 countries around the world. Can you imagine 440 Chernobyls and Fukushimas burning completely out of control, all at the same time?