A FIELD ALERT - On the Little‐Known Consequences of the 4 August 1972 Ultra‐Fast Coronal Mass Ejecta: Facts, Commentary and Call to Action

Health & Safety - Mining, Environmental, & Cybersecurity

Delores J. Knipp, et al., (2018) report that the extreme space weather events of early August 1972 are discussed as benchmarks for Sun‐Earth transit times of solar ejecta (14.6 hr) and for solar energetic particle fluxes (10 MeV ion flux > 70000 cm‐2 s‐1 sr‐1). Although the magnetic storm index, Dst, dipped to only ‐125 nT, the magnetopause was observed within 5.2 RE and the plasmapause within 2 RE. Widespread electric‐ and communication‐ grid disturbances plagued North America late on 4 August. There was an additional effect, long buried in the Vietnam War archives that adds credence to the severity of the storm impact: a nearly instantaneous, unintended detonation of dozens of sea mines south of Hai Phong, North Vietnam on 4 August 1972.

The U.S. Navy attributed the dramatic event to ‘magnetic perturbations of solar storms.’ The authors discuss how such a finding is broadly consistent with terrestrial effects and technological impacts of the 4 August 1972 event and the propagation of major eruptive activity from the Sun to the Earth. They also provide insight into the solar, geophysical and military circumstances of this extraordinary situation. In their view this storm deserves a scientific revisit as a grand challenge for the space weather community, as it provides space‐age terrestrial observations of what was likely a

A Carrington‐Class Storm.
Translation: The extreme space weather events of early August 1972 had significant impact on the U.S. Navy, which have not been widely reported. These effects, long buried in the Vietnam War archives, add credence to the severity of the storm: a nearly instantaneous, unintended detonation of dozens of sea mines south of Hai Phong, North Vietnam on 4 August 1972. This event occurred near the end of the Vietnam War. The U.S. Navy attributed the dramatic event to 'magnetic perturbations of solar storms.' In researching these events, the authors determined that the widespread electric‐ and communication‐ grid disturbances that plagued North America and the disturbances in Southeast Asia late on 4 August likely resulted from propagation of major eruptive activity from the Sun to the Earth. The activity fits the description of a Carrington‐class storm minus the low latitude aurora reported in 1859. They provide insight into the solar, geophysical and military circumstances of this extraordinary situation. In the authors view, this storm deserves a scientific revisit as a grand challenge for the space weather community, as it provides space‐age terrestrial observations of what was likely a Carrington‐class storm.