No major damage to satellites, grids, or power lines has been reported since the geomagnetic storm this weekend; Plus, one last potential water cleanup solution.
For today’s Tech Tuesday, I am focusing on the geomagnetic storm that nailed us over the weekend. Space is about as far from the subsurface as you can get, but as geoscientists, we rely heavily on satellites linking up in outer space (please say that in a Ron White voice) and other tech that can be impacted by these events.
I grew up in the Midwest, which means that when storms were coming—and especially if tornado sirens went off—we went outside to get a good look. This storm was no different, and my happy little self was outside at 11pm (super late for parents!) with my iPhone on its 3 second exposure to get great pics, and…they did not disappoint.
Sarah Compton
Editor, Enspired
Water Innovation Series, Part 5: One Last Potential Solution
Petrmalinak/Shutterstock.com
Previously on Enspired: We’ve summarized what NAWI is trying to accomplish at a federal level, but we also have some global champions for water management in AAPG’s Division of Environmental Geoscience.
WRMS began as an initiative to quantify and classify water resources as they relate to the industry.
Within two years of its inception, the WRMS was issued and endorsed by the American Water Board Trust and SPE’s Water Life Cycle Committee.
How it works: The WRMS classifies water in a way that’s similar to the petroleum resource management system:
First, the resource is categorized as undiscovered water in place (wip) or discovered wip.
Then, water is subclassified into commercial and sub-commercial wip.
Within commercial wip, there are proved, probable, and possible reserves classifications.
A note about water balance, which is intended to measure inflow, outflow, and recharge:
Recharge is often the significant factor, and the impact on sustainable volumes should be clearly indicated.
Recoverable quantities estimates should reflect uncertainties of wip, but also all factors that affect the water balance, such as recharge and recovery efficiency.
Why it matters:
WRMS seeks to bring the water issue closer to home, with industry-focused guidance and actionable steps.
Geoscientists have a huge role to play in the full life cycle of water in the industry.
Worldwide, more than 2 billion people do not have access to clean and reliable water resources. The innovations and technology we discover and develop to improve our industry’s water use can be applied where those resources are most needed.
Where geos come in: Placing water resources into these categories will rely heavily on geoscience skillsets. Additionally, some use cases lend themselves to geos’ help as well:
Water from wells (e.g. coal bed methane wells, brine fluids from O&G wells) could be a liability, but if they’re treated properly, they could become an asset. Geoscientists can help quantify what volumes might be produced, the chemistry of the produced water, and what it might cost to treat.
Geothermal wells need water to operate, but that water can’t muck up the wells. Scaling can be a major issue, and geoscientists play a big role both in finding geothermal sources, but also in mitigating scaling risk by understanding the fluid composition and behavior under variable pressure and temperature conditions.
The bottom line: The water issue is a big one, which means there’s no shortage of ways to get involved. You can read more about the WRMS in Andy Clay and Jeff Aldrich’s paper here.
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How Tech Has Adapted to Weather Geomagnetic Storms
Sarah Compton / Denver, Colorado
Unless you live under a rock, which takes “geo enthusiast” to a whole new level, you might have heard the news about the G5 geomagnetic storm this weekend.
What happened: A geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance of currents, plasmas, and fields in Earth’s magnetosphere. This one was caused by clouds of ejected solar plasma—a “coronal mass ejection.”
Ranking system: Geomagnetic storms are ranked 1 through 5, with G1 being least severe and G5 being the most severe. They are associated with issues such as:
Pipeline currents of hundreds of amps
High frequency radio propagation may be impossible in many areas for one to two days and low-frequency radio navigation can be out for hours.
Satellite navigation may be degraded for days.
Aurora has been seen as low as Florida and southern Texas (typically 40° geomagnetic lat).
Risky business: Historically, these storms have had a reputation for messing with society’s most relied-upon tech.
The Carrington Event occurred in late summer of 1859, and a significant portion of the world’s 200,000 km of telegraph lines were adversely affected, many of which were unusable for 8 hours or more.
In 1989, a destructive solar storm caused electrical blackouts across Quebec for 12 hours.
An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003 took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.
New standards: These events and others led to standards, finalized in 2016, that require power grids to be somewhat protected and equipment to be continuously tested for possible effects of solar storms.
This event: It seems this storm didn’t cause many issues that we’re aware of…perhaps those standards are doing their job. SpaceX did warn of Starlink satellite disruption, as they lost 40 satellites during a storm in 2022, but this time, they seem to have made it through unscathed.
Look haaaaarder: When I went outside my house just west of Denver, CO, I was disappointed when my naked eye didn’t see much, but a 3 second exposure with my iPhone camera revealed something else entirely! The photo above is from this event.
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