Solar storms: Plans for extreme storm hitting NZ
An official plan for what to do if space weather hits New Zealand, and damages critical power and communications infrastructure,
The emergency response agency is preparing for power and communications outages in the event of an extreme solar storm. New Zealand's National Emergency Management Agency has released an interim response plan for space weather in August, and said it planned to update that in the coming weeks.
Estimates are that the radio communications network currently used by New Zealand's emergency services frontline responders won't last past next year. “Over the past 20 years, the requirement for a refresh of the communications technology and infrastructure has been deferred resulting in a material infrastructure deficit.
Advertisement Advertise with NZME. Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – seen as the bright flash in the lower left – on October 1, 2024. Photo / Nasa Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – seen as the bright flash in the lower left – on October 1, 2024.
The network is made up of three main solutions: Cellular, Personal Alerting, and Land Mobile Radio. The latter is the core of the new network, a new land mobile radio service, which was supposed to already be up and running in Canterbury, with Wellington soon to be completed. Tasman was supposed to then follow in September.
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