Stormy space weather sweeping across the equator could threaten vital power grids in regions including India, which were long considered safe from such events, scientists have warned.

Researchers from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia, Boston College and Dartmouth College in US, found that these equatorial electrical disruptions threaten power grids in India, countries in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America, where protecting electricity infrastructure from space shocks has not been a priority.

“Massive space weather events have crashed power grids across North America and Europe, but we have found that often with little warning, smaller events strike in equatorial regions more frequently than previously thought,” said Brett Carter, from the RMIT SPACE Research Centre.

“Our research shows areas closer to the equator experience disturbing effects on power grid infrastructure which has largely been overlooked,” Carter said.

“Previous research has focused on severe geomagnetic storms, such as the 1989 event that left millions across North America without power for up to 12 hours,” he said.

“What the historical data also shows in our study is that we don’t need huge geomagnetic storms to experience negative effects at the equator,” he said.

“From previous research, we know that smaller episodes can cause fluctuations in wholesale electricity prices, as it can interfere with monitoring rates of supply and demand,” he said.

Electrojet

The findings show that the effects of geomagnetic storms are amplified by the equatorial electrojet, a naturally occurring flow of electric current approximately 100km above the surface of Earth.

The electrojet travels above large parts of Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and the southern tip of India.

Carter said Earth’s equatorial regions are largely unstudied and more susceptible to disruptive space weather than previously thought, which should prompt scientists to examine the infrastructure and economic implications on countries near the equator.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that we need to investigate the effects of adverse space weather in a technology-dependent society where health and economic well-being are reliant on dependable power infrastructure,” said Carter.

The study was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.