Solar peak expected in 2011-2012

I am mostly not a believer of this whole 2012 hoopla but another one for the people who believe in it. How much does this affect a human on the ground if anyone knows about this. That is the one thing I am a little worried about. Sorry if posted already.

www.cnn.com...

This is the first time I've heard this referred to as "Solar Peak" Usually it is called Solar Maximum or Solar Max for short. Whatever the MSM wants to call it, it is going to suck.

Right from your article here are somethings to worry about.

# Airlines flying over the pole face loss of communications that could force them to use a different, longer route at an added cost of as much as $100,000 per flight.

# The Global Positioning System is immensely important to commerce and can be disrupted by solar activity.

# Operating floating oil rigs in the ocean requires keeping them positioned within a few inches to prevent damaging drilling gear. "They have to know when GPS is going to be accurate."

# There is an increased radiation risk to humans in space.

# Currents can be induced in long electrical transmission lines, causing blackouts.

The last really big Solar Max was in 1958. It was so strong that "northern lights" could be seen in Mexico That would be neat to see but this Solar Max is really going to mess with our electronic infrastructure in a bad way.

Here is some good info on the topic: What is a Solar Maximum and What Happens?

[edit on 26/4/2007 by Umbrax]

The NOAA has a new report that says solar cycle 24 won't be as "bad" as everyone has thought. However, it's only a prediction since the cycles haven't been forcast much in the past, just reviewed as they occured.

www.sec.noaa.gov...

identifies the '58 peak.
www.sec.noaa.gov...

Notice that 2nd link - the height of the solar maximums has increased over the decades? Notice that people are talking about global warming over the last few decades? We all should know that global warming is highly associated with the height of the solar max over the years. If each cycle has a slightly higher maximum, we can tie the last century's temperature rise to the solar cycles pretty closely.

The graph on this front-page below appears to show a cycle "less" than in the 80s and 90s. But any peak could lead to some issues with satellites and folks in space. Good thing we don't have more than, oh, 5 people in space.

www.solarcycle24.com...

[edit on 26-4-2007 by bonaire]