NavList:

The induced currents from solar storms were more of a problem in the 19th century than might be expected today because the telegraph lines were held high on posts like antennae, and Earth loops were a common way of eliminating one side of the circuit wires. They would be very vulnerable to large-scale atmospheric induced currents, as they were to thunderstorms for example passing overhead.

Today most 'land-lines' are actually fibre optics cables buried underground and are totally immune to solar storms. Even the transatlantic and other trans continental cables are fibre optic now. Copper wire is only used from the local exchanges to the subscriber's home, which here in GB is usually only a couple of miles at the most unless in a very rural area. Since the cold war, telephone systems in the UK (and no doubt America) have been specially designed to survive in nuclear bomb attack, including EMP, so I doubt would be affected by a large solar storm.

Satellites are the weak link but their internals are 'hardened' against radiation and solar particles (precisely because of solar storm possibility), but can still be affected by very high radiation, and it is the exposed solar panels which are likely to suffer most and probably can be 'knocked-out'. A satellite with perfectly good internals is useless if there is no power.

Douglas Denny.
Chichester. England.

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