pulses.

STUART BRADFORD

T
HIS YEAR, THE SUN WILL REACH SOLAR
maximum, a period of peak magnetic activity that
occurs approximately once every 11 years. That means
more sunspots and more frequent intense solar storms. Here on
Earth, these result in beautiful auroral activity, but also
geomagnetic storms and the threat of electromagnetic pulses
(EMPs), which can bring widespread damage to electronic
equipment and communications systems.

Yilu Liu
Yilu Liu is a Governor’s Chair/Professor at the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville, and Oak
Ridge National Laboratory.

And the sun isn’t the only source of EMPs. Human-made EMP
generators mounted on trucks or aircraft can be used as tactical
weapons to knock out drones, satellites, and infrastructure. More
seriously, a nuclear weapon detonated at a high altitude could,
among its more catastrophic effects, generate a wide-ranging
EMP blast. IEEE Spectrumspoke with Yilu Liu, who has been
researching EMPs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in
Tennessee, about the potential effects of the phenomenon on
power grids and other electronics