I can't quite put my finger on it, but this story gives me an uneasy feeling...

U.N. Braces For Stormy Space Weather!


As the years went by, COPUOS membership ballooned from 18 to 74 nations, while items such as space debris, near-Earth asteroids, space-based disaster management, and global navigation were added to the committee's regular agenda. At each annual meeting in Vienna, Austria, COPUOS members confer about these issues, which present some key challenge or peril to the whole planet.
This year, a new item is on the agenda: space weather.
"This is a significant development," says Lika Guhathakurta of NASA Headquarters in Washington. "By adding space weather to the regular agenda of the COPUOS Science and Technical Subcommittee, the UN is recognizing solar activity as a concern on par with orbital debris and close-approaching asteroids."
"Space weather is a significant natural hazard that requires global preparedness,” says Prof. Hans Haubold of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs. “This new agenda item links space science and space technology for the benefit of all humankind."
The elevation of space weather on COPUOS’s agenda coincides with the 10th anniversary of the International Living With a Star Program on Feb. 14.
A key problem that the UN can help solve is a gap--many gaps, actually--in storm coverage around our planet. When a solar storm sweeps past Earth, waves of ionization ripple through Earth’s upper atmosphere, electric currents flow through the topsoil, and the whole planet's magnetic field begins to shake.

"These are global phenomena," says Guhathakurta, "so we need to be able to monitor them all around the world.
[link to science.nasa.gov]

[link to www.oosa.unvienna.org]
:arnoldSolarDoom!: