A power plant makes electricity, and wires carry the power to users. Simple, right? Actually, many things can complicate power transmission, including storms on the surface of the sun, as well as issues with geomagnetic currents under the surface of the Earth.
Oregon State University is home to the , which recently completed a project to map those currents in the ground, across the Lower 48 states. The knowledge can help protect electrical grids from disturbances.
OSU Professor and the project's principal investigator, Adam Schultz, walks us through the details of the map and who benefits from it.
