White — Preparation

• Emergency kit: Build a kit with essentials like water, food, flashlight, and battery backups.
• Family communications plan: Create a plan for staying in touch during disruptions.
• Data backup: Secure critical data to prevent loss from power surges.
• Surge protectors: Install to protect electronics from voltage spikes.
• Geoelectric hazard maps: Use for assessing power grid vulnerabilities.
• Operational procedures: Develop utility plans for weathering storms.
• Neutral blocking device (NBD): Install in transformers to block geomagnetically induced currents (GICs).
• Warning systems: Improve satellite monitoring (e.g., NOAA, NASA) for early alerts.
• Business continuity planning (BCP): Integrate space weather risks into overall disaster prep.
• Shielding strategies: Explore materials for protecting astronauts and infrastructure.

Black — Action (Responses During a Storm)

• Energy conservation: Minimize electricity use to avoid blackouts.
• Emergency alerts: Follow instructions from systems like NOAA SWPC.
• Restrict usage: Limit phone calls to emergencies; avoid elevators.
• Grid management: Redispatch generators, restore lines, manage flow.
• Adaptive signal processing: Adjust telecom signals for ionospheric disturbances.
• Phases monitoring: Track initial, main, and recovery phases using Dst/Kp indices.
• Satellite adjustments: Correct for drag and orientation issues.
• Sleep hygiene: Maintain routines to counter health effects.
• Hydration and nutrition: Stay balanced to mitigate physical stress.
• Discontinue maintenance: Halt work on transmission lines.

Red — Challenges (Impacts and Risks)

• Power blackouts: Widespread grid collapse, transformer damage.
• Satellite damage: Surface charging, orbit control issues.
• Radio/GPS disruption: Ionospheric scintillation, navigation errors.
• GICs (Geomagnetically induced currents): Currents in pipelines, power lines.
• Radiation exposure: Risks to astronauts, airline crews.
• Mental health effects: Mood changes, irritability, anxiety.
• Infrastructure vulnerabilities: Voltage instabilities, equipment failures.
• Communication failures: HF radio blackouts, signal degradation.
• Auroral interference: Visible at low latitudes, but signals extra drag on satellites.
• Economic disruptions: Blackouts, outages affecting society and technology.