are at the highest risk in the US

Solar storms threaten Earth about every 100 years and experts warn we are overdue.

Now, researchers have released the first ever map that shows which areas of the US are at high risk of being hit by the next intense storm.

The map was built using geomagnetic storm measurements and data from magnetic materials beneath the Earth - revealing Minnesota is particularly at risk of being blasted by solar material.

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Researchers created a map that shows what areas of the US are at high risk of intense solar storms. The red and black dots represent areas at the highest risk, green and yellow are the lowest and gray means there is not yet enough data to map a geoelectric hazard

HOW WAS THE MAP MADE? The team used s geomagnetic storm measurements and data from magnetic materials beneath the Earth - known as a magnetotelluric survey. During a magnetotelluric survey, large electrodes are stuck into the ground and captured signals with recording machines. These signals tell experts how rock layers, the water table and other factors down below that could affect the conductivity of that region - it also reveals how much electricity a geomagnetic storm can gather there. The red and black dots in the map represent areas at the highest risk, green and yellow are the lowest and gray means there is not yet enough data to map a geoelectric hazard. However, more than half of the US hasn’t been labeled, as researchers are have not received congressional approval for the funding needed to complete these surveys. Advertisement

Solar storms have the ability to disrupt Earth’s magnetic field and wreak havoc on our electric power grids.

Officials warn that the massive electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from solar flares could cause $2.6 trillion in damages across the globe and bring an end to modern civilization as we know it.

Solar Storms are eruptions of magnetic energy from the sun’s surface.

Hot gases are accelerated when this magnetic energy is suddenly released and travels quickly towards the Earth.

A solar flare's 'killer electrons' can travel at up to several million miles per hour towards Earth.

The latest researcher comes from Jeffrey Love, a geologists with the United States Geological Survey, and his colleagues, who have been working on this project called Space Weather Operations, Research and Mitigation (SWORM) for the past year.

This project was first initiated by the White House’s National Science and Technology Council in 2015.

Love and his colleagues believe knowing which power grids could be hit the hardest is key for survival, reports Science Alert.

To create an accurate map, the team plotted the geomagnetic activity above certain areas and then gathered ground magnetometer data, or magnetotelluric survey.

The geomagnetic data was collected by the International Real-time Magnetic Observatory Network (INTERMAGNET), an organization that monitors Earth’s magnetic field.

And the magnetotelluric survey data was taken from the US National Science Foundation’s EarthScope, which monitors electrical conductivity in the ground using hundreds of sensors located across the US.

Solar storms have the ability to disrupt Earth’s magnetic field and wreak havoc on our electric power grids. To create an accurate map, the team plotted the geomagnetic activity above certain areas and then gathered ground magnetometer data, or magnetotelluric survey

HOW SOLAR FLARES IMPACT EARTH Solar flares can damage satellites and have an enormous financial cost. Astronauts are not in immediate danger because of the relatively low orbit of this manned mission. They do have to be concerned about cumulative exposure during space walks. The charged particles can also threaten airlines by disturbing the Earth's magnetic field. Very large flares can even create currents within electricity grids and knock out energy supplies. A positive aspect, from an aesthetic point of view, is that the auroras are enhanced. Geomagnetic storms are more disruptive now than in the past because of our greater dependence on technical systems that can be affected by electric currents. Advertisement

During a magnetotelluric survey, large electrodes are stuck into the ground, which capture signals with recording machines.

These signals tell experts how rock layers, the water table and other factors down below could affect the conductivity of that region - it also reveals how much electricity a geomagnetic storm can gather there.

The team was able to create their map with dots that correspond to the survey data.

The red and black dots represent areas at the highest risk, green and yellow are the lowest and gray means there is not yet enough data to map a geoelectric hazard.

According to the study, those surges could be up to 100 times more powerful in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin than in other parts of the United States.

However, more than half of the US hasn’t been labeled, as researchers are have not received congressional approval for the funding needed to complete these surveys.

Love stresses the importance of complete this work – especially in the northeast region of the country.

Solar storms could wreak havoc on Earth (pictured) and surges could be up to 100 times more powerful in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin than in other parts of the United States. However, experts say more than half of the US has yet to be plotted due to lack of funding

The team says this area is considered a high-priority area, due to the large population metropolitan centers and corresponding grid infrastructure.

But Love and his colleagues are about $500,000 short of funds needed to survey this area.

The US government revealed just last year that they are preparing for a catastrophic solar flare which could wipe out power across the world for months.

The last powerful geomagnetic solar storm to hit the earth was in 1859, which caused telegraph lines to explode, setting fire to some telegraph offices, and power to fail across Europe and North America.

DETECTING SOLAR FLARES BEFORE THEY HAPPEN Eruptions on the sun are due to the sudden release of built up electromagnetic energy on the star's surface, or corona. During these coronal mass ejection events, loops called magnetic flux ropes arch out from the corona. But as they reach out from the corona they twist and destabilise, causing them to collapse back to the surface, or 'snap', resulting in a solar flare. Scientists think they may have cracked what makes or breaks these solar flares - and the findings could help the space agency distinguish between real threats and false alarms. To recreate the plasma loops in lab conditions, researchers at the US Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) used the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX), a device for study the effect of magnet fields on plasma. They found that the controlling factor on whether the loops collapsed or snapped was the strength of a guide magnetic field running along their length – called the toroidal field tension force. When this force was strong it stopped the loop from twisting and breaking, causing the flare to fail. The team believes that during solar eruptions, this force is too weak to maintain the plasma loop and so leads to 'torus instability', which causes the loop to break. By detecting whether these guide fields are strong or weak, physicists should theoretically be able to calculate whether the plasma loops are likely to break and cause a solar flare. Advertisement

In today's far more advanced and technological world, experts the effects would be devastating.