Severe Solar storm 93 million miles away, followed by death and destruction

• A 'perfect storm' of plasma and solar energy on a course to Earth at the speed of light could cause a global economic disaster. Picture: Getty

The sun, the scientists say, is awakening from a long and deep slumber and set to embark on a period of violent solar activity that could send devastating electromagnetic radiation racing to our planet.

One massive storm on the sun's surface, 93 million miles away, would be powerful enough to knock out power grids, destroy satellites controlling GPS and communications networks, ground airlines and throw the world's banking system into chaos.

The disruption to the fuel chain and subsequent breakdown in social order could leave governments powerless and tens of millions without clean water, access to medicines or fresh food, Nasa studies suggest.

If it sounds like the plot of Hollywood's latest apocalyptic movie, scientists are taking the threat seriously enough to have called government officials, disaster response managers, power company chiefs and other interested parties to a space weather forum in Washington DC yesterday.

"A storm of this magnitude would be a low probability event but would have a very high impact," said Chris St Cyr, a senior astrophysicist at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland.

"It might not happen as often as hurricanes, earthquakes or volcanic eruptions but we are more vulnerable than ever before. Now, we use satellites for mobile phones, navigation, communication, just running your Visa card through to make a purchase.

"Our power grids are interconnected and would act as one giant antenna in a big geomagnetic storm. There's a need to highlight to those in decision-making positions that this is a natural hazard that we didn't have to worry about in the 1970s, but now we do."

St Cyr's colleagues at Nasa's Heliophysics Science Division, which studies the sun's relationship with Earth and neighbouring planets, say solar activity runs in cycles averaging 11 years, with the next peak due in late 2012 into 2013.

"We have been in an extended phase of minimal activity, which typically lasts two to three years but this time has been more than four," St Cyr said.

As solar activity builds, an increase in sunspots, cooler areas on the surface caused by increased magnetic activity, leads to more eruptions known as solar flares that blast highly-charged particles of energy into the universe.