There is a considerable body of opinion linking solar activity to events impacting earth's weather, climate and tectonic integrity.
March 2012 saw a notable uptick in solar driven energetic material impacting earth - ranging from a string of X and M class flares, to Coronal Mass Ejections and High Speed Streams of solar wind ejected from coronal holes.
scroll down for 2014 updates
The standard logic is that only when these events occur on the earth-facing side of the sun, that any consequences are delivered to earth. The other standard view is that only the data registered by the satellites & magnometers is relevant.
But given that space and earth sciences are relatively only in their infancy, with vast dimensions unknown, unexplained and unexplored, the potential for much bigger views is of maximum probability.
- The wholistic view would consider that any significant magnetic outpouring from the sun in any direction has a local galactic if not a universal impact.
- the laboratory findings of Purdue University nuclear engineer Jere Jenkins showed that the decay rate of radioactive isotope manganese-54 decreased about a day and a half before the sun released a flare on Dec 13 2006, as well as dropping further during the flare itself. This result has intrigued scientists. Jenkins said: "What we're suggesting is that something that doesn't really interact
with anything is changing something that can't be changed." Solar neutrinos are suspected to be involved. And this is another example of an Alice in Wonderland underlying nature of reality scenario
As a case in point look at the
Japan tsunami of March 11 2011, generated by a massive undersea earthquake.
Solar activity was prolific preceding this event:
March 6 a flurry of C flares ( 23 ranging from C1.4 to C8.6
March 7 M flares, 7 in total, up to M3.7
C flares, 6 in total up to C7.6
Fastest [ >2200 km/sec ] CME [coronal mass ejection of charged particles] since Sept 2005, explodes
March 8 M flares (5) to a max of M5.3
C flares (5) to a max of M8.8
March 9 X flare - X1.5 and CME causing geomagnetic G2 storm
M flares (2) to M1.7
C flares (10) to C9.4
March 10 M flare (1) to M1.1
C flares (7) to C6.2
March 11 C flares (12) to C5.5. Then a general decline.
The Japan quake & tsunami happened on this day.
In 2012 -March again - which reflects a solar cycling component - refer to the red data in this compilation of strongest events during the current sunspot cycle #24
Add to this:
March 2 sunspot 1429 releases M3.3 flare after almost a month of lower level activity
March 4 M2.0 flare from the same spot
March 5 Multiple M and C flares
March 6 M 1.3 in addition to X flare noted in table
March 8 maximum flare is C7.0
March 12 (Universal Time, UT) A CME reaches earth
March 13 M7.9 flare plus CME occurs
March 15 CME detected at earth; M 1.0 flare
March 17 M 1.3 flare
March 19 C 1.2 & C3.5 flares
In addition a large coronal hole sent a continual high speed stream of particles into the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) during the first half of March 2012.
As well, the dominantly south pointing IMF through much of the period from March 7-20 has allowed for a powerful plug-in effect of the solar material to interact with earth's magnetic environment.
So in respect of earth's tectonic situation, events over M6.0 since March 2 2012 (UT Univeral time) :
(Data via USGS)
2012/03/23 09:25:17 -26.068 132.123 6.1 CENTRAL AUSTRALIA
more updated below
In
New Zealand, which has been dominated by seismic unrest in Christchurch since September 2010, the picture has been one of sustained events over M4.0 in diverse north and south locations:
First noticed in the period March 5-8 as a flurry across central New Zealand.
A
Geonet NZ quake search for the time frame March 2-March 20 2012 pulls up 27 events M4+ with 5 of these being M5+. Only 7 of these occurred south of Wellington i.e. below the bottom tip of the North Island. March 21 had a M4.6 in the north island east cape.
[
update March 24 2 simultaneous Pegasus Bay quakes Christchurch M3.9-M4.1 at 5.09pm local time]
The correlation between solar events and earth events may be explained in terms of earth's molten interior being impacted by incoming solar and cosmic particles, with the resulting
onion skin crust subject to gyrations as a result of both inner turbulence and the variable-cyclic solar-lunar driven gravitational tidal forces;
March 28 M4 Blenheim.
update April 1 - continued M4+ activity = March 31 Carterton
M4.5 & Tuatapere
M4.1; April 1 White Island region
M4.8. M4.7, M4.1]
Since March 10 a significant elevation of energetic protons in earth's outer radiation belt occurred, caused by the aftermath of recent geomagnetic storms mixed with the incoming high speed solar wind stream - [via spaceweather.com] At March 21 the readings continued climbing.
Continuing events may be updated here:
March 26 2012
March 23 2012
Australia reports a M6.1 quake in the north central outback, the biggest quake since 1997, preceded by March 16 M4.3; March 20 M3.8 in the same area, all three within the geostorming aftermath phase.
March 23 2012
NASA analysed geomagneticly disturbed days on earth over a 75 yr period and they now consider the spring and fall or autumn equinoxes (equal day-night points) of March & September to herald the greater frequency of disturbances and auroras:
March 27-28 2012 UT
9 successive hours of K level 4 readings either due to a high speed stream from a coronal hole or related to the large farside flare and CME off sunspot 1429, large quake activity continues as updated above in quake data sections. Only M6+ worldwide are noted and M4+ in NZ but a flurry of activity has occurred as well in the M5+ [world] and M3+ [NZ] range in those regions
2013
updates April 12
Please refer to the detailed but very readable paper by Richard Mackey listed below which provides extensive referencing and examples of solar-lunar-planetary impacts on terrestrial conditions
click to enlarge data |
Japan has M5.8 quake at exact time of M3.3 flare on April 12 2013 [20.30 UT]
= approx 37 hours after an M6.5 flare on April 11
and April 13 10am [April 12 22:00 UT] = 2 hrs later in north-east New Zealand waters a very deep offshore quake registered M5.0
April 11-14 Papua New Guinea M4.6, M5.1, M5.1, M6.6
Against all spaceweather predictions, the CME cloud appears to have almost totally missed earth. Ground based magnetometers recorded a sudden impulse at 22:57 on April 13 UT but just a weak event with no geostorm.
A valid question remains as to whether the energy of the initial event is more geoeffective than the CME's particle mass.
NASA focusses on the downstream effects generated by the coronal mass ejection, as hi speed charged particles interact some days afterwards with earth's magnetic field but a consideration of the activity occurring at the time of the flare itself may be primary:
Solar flares are the release, in a single burst, of energy in many forms - electro-magnetic (from radio waves through the visible spectrum to gamma rays and x-rays), energetic particles (protons and electrons), and matter that is so hot it is in the form of plasma. Flares are characterized by their brightness in x-rays.
The energy released during a flare is typically ten million times greater than the energy released from a volcanic explosion.
CMEs expand away from the Sun at speeds as high as 4 million miles per hours! The light and x-rays accompanying a CME reach earth in a few minutes. The mass of particles may take three to five days to arrive.
The red trace -top -shows from the time of near earth detection of the solar wind [around 22:00 hrs on April 12 the wind was northwards = above midline on this graph for almost the whole period. This prevents geostorming
April 15 2013
Despite no geostorm event recorded [the interplanetary magnetic field from the sun did not flip to a southwards polarity whilst in the connection phase with earth's field] various news reports
can be located for the period April 12-14 showing events that consistently cluster around strong flare or significant solar events:
Bali jet plane crash
Bombings in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan & Boston USA
Nationwide protests in New Zealand over National government education policies
Mass gatherings in UK celebrating death of Margaret Thatcher
Global sharemarkets decline, Gold drops 9%
M6 & M6.6 earthquakes Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea
This situation leads to more of a conclusion that the timing and magnitude of the initial event on the sun itself is more critical than any subsequent geostorm in affecting terrestrial & biological systems
In other words, planet earth has already been affected by the mega energy release of a significant event before any standard geo-effective period of measurement
USGS map shows several recent quakes in south west Pacific to Asian region
April 16 UT
A M7.8 quake in Iran at 10:44 UT on April 16 is the largest in April 2013
An earthquake uptick has been evident since the April 11 Solar flare of M6.5.
The main quakes recorded are:
courtesy of USGS
also a very fatal China quake April 20, M6.6 in the vulnerable Sichuan region
see historic tectonic analysis re 2008 quake [ when Jupiter & Uranus at 22 degrees are likely to have created the tidal force - but the solar cycle was extremely low being the start of C24]
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Prior significant quakes in 2013:
Another historic example:
X flare rated at 8.3 on November 2 2003 was followed on Nov 17 2003 by M7.8 quake, Rat Islands Alaska and a swarm of M4.5 in Nevada USA beginning Nov 15.
What is interesting is the planetary mix that coincides with that X flare - Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury all at 13 degrees - even preliminary research done recently confirms conclusions already in circulation, showing the likelihood that planetary forces are contributing to the sun's magnetic build-up, leading to large flares and in combination these solar system factors have significant seismic consequences on earth.
and an April 2013 example
Mars in sustained direct alignment with the sun plus Saturn in sustained connection to Uranus both at 9 degrees -
in combination have coincided with rising solar activity and a run of significant quakes.
April 23-25 forecast
Watch for terrestrial effects from the CHSS high speed solar wind from a large earth facing coronal hole
Recent flares and the coronal hole effects have led to an increasing forecast of geomagnetic storming around 06:00 UT April 24
source
2014
February 25 saw the sun emit an X4.9 flare and halo CME. Subsequent geostorming was low key on Feb 27 but as a consequence of several recently prior incoming CMEs, proton levels have been sustained at high levels:
In this context:
Quake activity has seen a jump to >M6 in
Nicaragua M6.2 on March 2
Japan M6.5 on March 3
