Our solar system appears to be under attack!  Can your heroes save the day?
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NASA continues to warn of the potential for a sudden solar flare emanating an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) in the earth’s direction at some point during the coming solar maximum, scheduled to peak in 2012.

A team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) predicts the current solar maximum to be the most intense in at least fifty years and possibly as intense as the 1859 Carrington Event.

As we discussed in June, the impact of a solar storm upon the earth is measured in nano-Teslas or nT. The solar storm that knocked out the Quebec power grid in 1989 measured 589 Nt’s. The 1859 Carrington Event measured 1,760 nT’s.

The scientists at NCAR say they have confidence in the forecast because, in a series of test runs, the newly developed model simulated the strength of the past eight solar cycles with more than 98% accuracy.

The forecasts are generated, in part, by tracking the subsurface movements of the sunspot remnants of the previous two solar cycles.

The NCAR team's computer model, known as the Predictive Flux-transport Dynamo Model, draws on research by NCAR scientists indicating that the evolution of sunspots is caused by a current of plasma, or electrified gas, that circulates between the Sun's equator and its poles over a period of 17 to 22 years.

Think of it like the Gulf Stream currents that regulate the weather on either side of the Atlantic.

I used to go out with a buddy who had a charter fishing boat to fish the blue water of the Gulf Stream. It runs about fifty miles offshore from Cape Lookout, NC.

You can see it before you get there . . . it is a ribbon of deep, Caribbean blue cutting through the sea-green mid Atlantic. In mid-winter when the temperatures on shore are in the thirties and forties, you’re still fishing the Blue Water in temperatures in the 70’s.

This Predictive Flux-transport Dynamo Model current acts like a conveyor belt of sunspots the way the Gulf Stream acts as a conveyor belt of warm water.

According to the current flow, NCAR predicts that Cycle 24 will peak in 2012 with a massive coronal mass ejection that will blast the planet with a massive EMP pulse.

The US Army calculated that it would take an EMP blast level of between 30-80 kV/m to fry the circuits in a vehicle. But in tests using a 2010 Toyota Prius, they began at a minimum level of 5 kV/m. They didn’t need to raise the EMP level any further.

And if they want to raise it any higher, they’re gonna need another Prius.. .

According to various official astrophysics and solar research labs around the world, something very, very strange is going on in our solar system. A partial list includes the following:

    * Recent solar activity highest in 8000 years
    * Sun's magnetic field has decreased in size by 25%
    * 300% increase in galactic dust entering our solar system
    * Mercury’s magnetosphere experiencing significant increases
    * Venus exhibiting a 2500% increase in its “green glow”
    * Mars showing a rapid appearance of clouds and ozone
    * Mars observations reveal up to 50% erosion of its ice features within a 12-month period
    * Jupiter plasma torus increasing; its moon Io exhibiting the same changes
    * A 200% increase in the density of Io's plasma torus
    * Jupiter's Disappearance of White Ovals since 1997 - recent increase in storms
    * Io's ionosphere is 1000% higher
    * Jupiter’s moon Europa much brighter than scientists expected
    * Jupiter’s moon Gannymede is 200% brighter
    * Saturn's plasma torus is 1000% more dense
    * Aurorae first seen in Saturn's polar regions in recent years
    * Uranus was featureless in 1996 - exhibiting huge storms since 1999
    * Uranus in 2004 was also markedly brighter than in 1999
    * Neptune is 40% brighter in the near-infrared range based on observations from 1996 - 2002
    * Pluto observations reveal a 300% increase in atmospheric pressure

I was fascinated to learn the name of the Large Binocular Telescope Near-infrared Utility with Camera and Integral Field Unit for Extragalactic Research located on Mt Graham in Southeast Arizona that's keeping an eye on all this.

What was fascinating to me was not its ponderous and unwieldy name, but the acronym derived from the letters in boldface. They call it Lucifer. Coincidence?

What would happen in the case of another Carrington Event is all speculative since the planet hasn’t been hit full on since becoming wired. But most probably, the side that took the full force of the hit would be instantly plunged into the 19th century.

The rule of thumb would be that if it has wires, it’s broken. The Grid would be cooked. Most cars would stop dead in their tracks. Cellphones and satellites would fry. Forget about computers and the internet.

There would be no food delivery system, no way to deliver clean water, no banks, no ATMs and no money. Cities would become war zones. If you live in a city, your best bet would be to try to get out. But that will be no easy trick without transportation.

Hey!

According to what I've read about the "Mayan 2012 thing", they don't actually predict anything specific to happen.  Approx 12/21/2012 a "cycle" in their calendar resets (kind of like Dec 31st 1999 - Jan 1st 2000 resets the millennium or 2009 - 2010 resets the decade, etc).

In V&V, on the other hand, I'm sure everyone's heroes will be kept extremely busy!

BTW: Did you roleplay the Millennium Bug?

mw

I'm going to hijack the thread for a second but only slightly as my question/ideal is closely related to "Space Adventures"

Display Name talks about a "natural disaster" while I'm interested in manmade extinction events. I was reading one of Butcher's Dresden Novels a while back and a particular plot device got me thinking recently. Certain powers in the hands of the wrong or right individuals are/can be "planet killers."

Simple one first.
Power: Teleportation
Even with a simple carrying capacity of a few hundred pounds think about the things this could do. I mean what is the maximum falling damage created by dropping the "bad" guy from a few miles up?

A little more complex but possible with a decent astrogation program.
Powers: Flight and Adaptation
You've has enough of Leo's hiding behind diplomatic immunity and U.N. resolution's just aren't cutting it. Couple of weeks of pushing even a tiny asteroid at full flight (with the right computations) and boom no more Presidential Mansion or Palatial Grounds or . . . well you get the ideal.

These are obviously actions our heroes felt pushed into or our villains decided might make for a fun Saturday afternoon. Regardless your only a step or two from Dinosaur time if they want to step it up. Generally speaking I play more of a "boyscout" class character than not, but I could see where these ideals would pop into certain players heads and definitely if they're playing villains

These are definitely ideals which throw you out of the 4 color comic world, but events that could easily take place with the simplest of characters

In all my years of doing falling damage, I'd never realized that the ground could take 1/2 the damage (even though it's spelled out in the rules).  Glad you posted this little bit, DN!   

Sorry, I didn't mean to make it so complicated...

The fall was calculated from 4.26 miles up (the minimum distance required to achieve 1000"/turn after being dropped).  This wouldn't cause "reentry burn".

I made an assumption for "rolling with" the damage.

mw

"Dr. Porkylips???!!" 

You guys ever notice how anything becomes measurably more impressive when the words, "from space!" are added to it? For example, you could just drop a boulder on Leo's crib, but it's much more impressive to drop a boulder... from space!

By the by, I think that rolling with the punch can be interpreted too literally. You aren't necessarily "rolling with it," so much as doing whatever is necessary to lessen the impact. That may mean going limp, going spread eagle and steering yourself for a haystack, or using the main gun to recoil the tank you are in so that it lands in the only body of water within a hundred miles.

(I have got to increase my posting frequency. Every time I see my title, all I can think of is Bruce Campbell bellowing, "SIDE-KICK!")

Cat Lord wrote on Oct 11^th, 2010 at 3:31pm:


I wholeheartedly agree, and I've always viewed "rolling with it" to be exactly as you describe.  After all, an otherwise "normal" guy who has an Intelligence of 25 can 'roll with' WAY more than another average fellow, so using one's Intelligence also factors into the equation.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lf9OMavhQ0A