The Truth about 2012 - Solar Storms

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Transcripts of Truth about 2012

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[00:00:15.11] The fact that 2012, the date 2012, is close to 2014 is completely a coincidence.

[00:00:20.17] This up and coming solar cycle, roughly 2014, isn't going to be significantly different from the next one

[00:00:27.01] and the next one, and then the previous one.

[00:00:30.15] The sun is what we call and active star, and it has a cycle of activity.

[00:00:34.53] Over 11 years, we go to higher activity and back down to lower activity.

[00:00:40.09] So, this 11 years is fairly steady, and it has been happening through time as far as we can tell.

[00:00:45.74] And we always have solar flares. Some times we have big ones, some times we have small ones.

[00:00:51.12] We live on a planet with a very thick atmosphere.

[00:00:54.21] So, that atmosphere stops all of the harmful radiation that is produced in a solar flare.

[00:01:01.63] Even in the largest events that we've seen in the past 10,000 years,

[00:01:05.51] we see that the effect is not enough to damage the atmosphere so that we are no longer protected.

[00:01:13.55] Coronal mass ejections are happening on the sun all the time.

[00:01:17.34] And they hit the Earth once or twice a week,

[00:01:21.27] sometimes more,

[00:01:23.06] and in general, the effects are minimal.

[00:01:26.69] If we have a really big one, we can have a really strong aurora.

[00:01:29.95] But, then it can effect satellites and power grids,

[00:01:34.86] and these are the kinds of things that people who run these systems know about.

[00:01:39.37] And we have warning.

[00:01:40.65] These CMEs travel at speeds that mean they take probably 2-3 days to get here.

[00:01:47.92] We've learned more and more about storms.

[00:01:49.46] We've learned how to better predict the effects.

[00:01:52.29] Where they are going to go. Where they are going to hit.

[00:01:55.68] As long as we continue paying attention to it and learning more about it,

[00:02:00.70] treating it like we treat a hurricane coming or a huge thunderstorm coming,

[00:02:05.02] we can take appropriate measures to prepare for them.

[00:02:08.56] We understand the sun well enough

[00:02:12.44] with all the technology and all the science

[00:02:14.61] and all of the many spacecraft we have that are monitoring it 24 hours a day,

[00:02:19.63] 7 days a week, to know that this stuper storm that's going to wipe out the Earth simply isn't going to happen.

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