Originally shared by Eli Fennell
How a Solar Storm Detonated U.S. Sea Mines in 1972
In 1972, as part of something called Operation Pocket Money targeting North Vietnamese ports during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy laid a minefield od destructor sea mines in the waters off Hon La. Then, in early August of that year, some 25 to 30 of these mines suddenly exploded within a short time span, for no apparent reason.
Even at the time, the Navy suspected the culprit might be solar activity. Many of these mines could be detonated by changes in nearby magnetic fields, meant of course to be signals of a nearby ship. It also happens that 1972 witnessed one of the most powerful solar storms ever detected, a likely source of magnetic field changes to account for the detonation of the mines.
A new analysis of data from that period suggests that the Navy was correct in their assessment: solar activity interfered with the function of the mines, causing them to detonate prematurely.
Researchers are now urging further study of this incident, which may hold lessons and warnings about how our ever increasing dependence on technologies, combined with our unavoidable dependence on the sun, may put us at risk at things far worse even than a few underwater explosions.
#BlindMeWithScience #Astronomy #Geophysics
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-sun-may-have-detonated-dozens-of-us-sea-mines-uncovered-navy-documents-reveal
No comments:
Post a Comment
Due to a small but consistent influx of spam, comments will now be checked before publishing. Only egregious spam/illegal/racist crap will be disapproved, everything else will be published.