A Review of Extreme Space Weather Event Impacts on Critical Infrastructure

Abstract

As our world becomes increasingly more reliant on interconnected technologies, space weather events, including geomagnetic storms, pose consequential risks to modern critical infrastructures. The May 2024 Gannon Storm, one of the most intense storms in recent decades, disrupted satellite operations, power grids, aviation routes, and high-frequency communications worldwide. This study investigates existing research on the wide-ranging repercussions of the May 2024 Gannon Storm, including direct impacts (e.g., satellite degradation, power grid fluctuations), cascading effects (e.g., communication blackouts, supply chain disruptions), and broader systemic consequences across multiple domains. There exists significant research data to draw upon from NASA’s DSCOVR satellite, NOAA’s SWPC alerts, and magnetometer readings from global observatories. To begin consolidating the available data and quantifying these impacts, our initial study focuses on authoring a novel software based literature review analyzer app, leveraging various tools for analyzing millions of research papers. The app, which is integrated with different search engines, such as Semantic Scholar and Crossref, and is configurable for multiple search categories, provides an automated way to locate, consolidate, and deduplicate matching research papers. The app also retrieves important research papers parameters such as DOI, Abstract, Citations, Fields and Urls. By surveying the current body of literature, this review highlights emerging patterns in the assessment of space weather risks and identifies critical knowledge gaps for future research.