Computer science teacher Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi spoke last week about the dramatic consequences a major solar storm would have on Internet connections around the world.

In her speech during the SIGCOMM 2021 virtual conference, the American specialist notably estimated that the submarine cables that supply most regions of the world would be severely damaged.

The written version of the researcher's study mentions the possibilities of "large-scale Internet connections cut off all over the planet for a period of several months".

She explained that the analysis of "concrete and proven data" showed that cables pulled to the bottom of the oceans were more fragile than land-based equipment.

1 / A global Internet outage lasting weeks!

Can that happen?



My paper "Solar Superstorms: Planning for an Internet Apocalypse" at # SIGCOMM'21 takes the first look at an important problem that the networking community had been overlooking until now: https://t.co/GROp6hf97c

- Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi (@sangeetha_a_j) July 29, 2021

American facilities in the sights

Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi also estimated that in the event of a strong solar storm, the American installations would prove to be more exposed than the Asian installations.

“The United States presents a higher risk of disconnection,” she wrote.

The expert also predicted greater damage in areas located in the far north and far south of the globe, where magnetic storms are the most intense.

In her research relayed by the

01Net

site

, the computer science professor explained that the complexity of underwater repair operations would cause long-term interruptions.

The optical fiber in which the data circulates would resist the powerful magnetic currents generated by a large solar flare.

Current peaks exceeding 100 amps would not interfere with its operation, but repeaters cannot withstand current greater than 1 ampere.

These transceivers spaced 50 to 150 kilometers along the submerged cables are nevertheless crucial.

The malfunction of only one of them makes the whole connection impossible.

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