There are a couple more variables to this question. How long will it take with...
1.) Snow on the ground?
2.) Different levels of severity?
1.) Snow on the ground?
2.) Different levels of severity?
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"...something like a stellar flare." Umm, the Sun is a star. A solar flare *is* a stellar flare, by definition. Let's say for fun a massive solar flare produced enough radiation to "break through" our magnetosphere. Not really possible, but let's say it did anyway.
The radiation that reached the ground would not be at all like the fallout from a bomb or malfunctioning reactor. In both those cases the problem is with radioactive dust that settles on everything, contaminating it in the process. In a solar storm there is no dust. The radiation comes directly from the Sun and would pass us by like a wavefront. You would be bathed in radiation for as long as the storm was strong enough to get through our magnetic fields. Then it would be gone. Expect lots of fried electronics and *lots* of static electricity - picture drawing a 12 inch spark from a doorknob. Also expect one nasty sunburn and an increase in skin cancer some months later. What about food? That would get sunburned as well, plants and animals both. There would be *no* lingering radiation or poison anywhere.
If you're looking for radiation fronts big enough to kill outright we'd be talking a doomsday scenario with the Sun undergoing a cataclysmic event like a nova explosion. I'd really like to think you don't consider that likely!
The radiation that reached the ground would not be at all like the fallout from a bomb or malfunctioning reactor. In both those cases the problem is with radioactive dust that settles on everything, contaminating it in the process. In a solar storm there is no dust. The radiation comes directly from the Sun and would pass us by like a wavefront. You would be bathed in radiation for as long as the storm was strong enough to get through our magnetic fields. Then it would be gone. Expect lots of fried electronics and *lots* of static electricity - picture drawing a 12 inch spark from a doorknob. Also expect one nasty sunburn and an increase in skin cancer some months later. What about food? That would get sunburned as well, plants and animals both. There would be *no* lingering radiation or poison anywhere.
If you're looking for radiation fronts big enough to kill outright we'd be talking a doomsday scenario with the Sun undergoing a cataclysmic event like a nova explosion. I'd really like to think you don't consider that likely!
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Um. None of this is remotely similar to what can occur with any potential solar storm. Are you sure you know what one is? Because this is looking like something else entirely. Right...
No effect upon the snow.
No effect upon the water.
You would receive no measurable radiation dose unless you were flying at high altitudes over the North Pole or were space-walking or otherwise in orbit and in an unprotected area of the craft.
No effect upon the snow.
No effect upon the water.
You would receive no measurable radiation dose unless you were flying at high altitudes over the North Pole or were space-walking or otherwise in orbit and in an unprotected area of the craft.
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