NZ's potentially catastrophic near-miss from outer space: 'We're not learning'
19 minutes to read
Experts including a former chief science advisor say New Zealand's risk-management systems are flawed and we can no longer rely on our "she'll be right" mantra. By Donna Chisholm.
The email giving New Zealand 24
hours' warning of a potentially catastrophic solar flare landed in chief science advisor Sir Peter Gluckman's inbox in late July 2012. It was an alert from his UK counterpart, Sir John Beddington, advising of a severe "space weather" event known as a mass coronal ejection. A huge amount of matter had been released from the sun that, if directed at the Earth, would cause a geomagnetic storm with the potential to destroy critical infrastructure including satellites, GPS systems and electricity grids.