5 oktober 2020

Solar flares in Shanghai

Space weather, specifically Solar super storms can wreak havoc on modern infrastructure. The impacts of the resulting geomagnetic superstorms are known in the electrical engineering community, but have since their discovery been systematically underestimated for equatorial latitudes. New insights imply the risk and impact on these regions are equal to the impact in polar regions and consist of; ionosphere saturation and geomagnetic fluctuations. These, when poorly managed or unexpected, will lead to loss of wireless communication capabilities and a breakdown of the power grid. These impacts and their planned preventions, as well as possible complications via cascading failure are laid out in this paper. In conclusion, very little can be said about Shanghai as the information is seen as of strategically value and thus is kept confidential. Initial damaged are partially avoidable, but long term impact will be unprecedented in the modern world.