A small group of people can still survive.
A group of American researchers called the most realistic version of the death of human civilization. According to the scientists, doomsday might occur due to solar activity, an asteroid impact or SUPERVOLCANO eruption. However, a small group of people can still survive. Article with a description of the most likely disasters published in the journal Science.
In the first scenario, the Earth could threaten a powerful stream of high-energy particles generated by the coronal mass ejection (coronal mass ejection, CME). The latter represents the emission of a substance in the form of plasma from the solar corona. Recent scientific studies have shown that this phenomenon is associated with flashes of powerful explosions in the solar atmosphere. Scientists remember that in 1989, the CME has led to a blown transformer in the U.S. state of new Jersey and blackouts in the canadian province of Quebec. In 1859 there was a record for the entire history of observations of the geomagnetic storm, called the Carrington Event. Auroras occurred at the latitude of the Caribbean, in addition, there were failures of Telegraph systems.
Researchers fear that such storms can cause widespread blackouts for the transformers, plunging the entire continent into darkness. Large-scale blackout would be disastrous for the countries dependent on the developed networks. Off the Internet, fuel pipelines, water pumps, ATMs and other devices and instruments. The probability of a powerful CME in the next 10 years is 12 percent. However, you can take steps to strengthen the grid and develop emergency procedures.
Unlike the coronal emission, an asteroid impact could lead to physical destruction of humanity. Computer models demonstrate that the fall to Earth of the cosmic body with a diameter of one kilometer will raise dust clouds that would deprive the surface of the solar light for several months. You cannot reduce the damage from such a disaster, but you can try to avoid it. Scientists hope that in the future there will be a planetary defence system, deflecting large asteroids with nuclear explosions.
Supervolcanoes third credible threat. Every 100 thousand years one of several large calderas produces hundreds of cubic kilometers of magma and ash. It is believed that the Toba eruption in Indonesia 74 thousand years ago that put humans on the brink of extinction. If this happens now, the continents can be covered meter layer of ash will be killed crops, destroyed buildings, clogged the plumbing.
Researchers believe that such an event can only wait. To feed the survivors will need to grow mushrooms on the foliage and the trunks of dead trees. The modernization of the existing industrial enterprises will enable us to effectively prepare for a volcanic disaster.
