Mitigating Geomagnetic Disturbances: A summary of Dominion Virginia Power?s efforts.

Abstract

The Sun, the only star in our solar system, is an essential energy source for all human activities as well as the entire Earth biosphere. Galileo discovered the existence of sunspots in 1610, and 200 years later, Schwabe proved that our home star's activities follow a cycle of 11 years. Using high-tech devices, scientists and engineers have gained a clearer vision of solar activities and are now better able to discern the sun's behavior. Known solar activities include a combination of sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections. Solar activity occurs in peaks, with roughly equal intervals between them. The sun interacts significantly with Earth's magnetosphere. Extraordinary solar activities (or solar storms) can severely interfere with Earth's magnetospheric and ionospheric electrical current system, causing rapidly changing Earth surface potential (ESP). The destructive consequences become more evident with the ever-increasing propagation of electrical and electronic equipment. The first recorded example of the negative effects of solar activity on human society was an unprecedented solar storm that raged from 28 August through 2 September 1859 (cycle 10), in which telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed.