Effects of Spacequake Could Go Down All the Way to Earth’s Surface as the Strongest Solar Storm Hitting Earth

Earth is being threatened with the biggest and strongest solar storm since 2005 causing radiations that could go down to the surface of our planet.

The solar flare is expected to hit Earth with three different effects at three different times after it happened at around 11 p.m. EST on January 22, 2012. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado is worried about the impact of radiation from the solar storm.

The radiation can cause problems to polar-traveling airplanes, particularly in communication, according to weather center physicist Doug Biesecker. Radiation hit Earth an hour after the solar flare occurred and will continue until Wednesday. Although, the levels of radiation are considered strong, there were more severe storms that happened before. However, Biesecker stressed that the latest storm is still the strongest for radiation in over 6 years.

The radiation from the sun travels at 93 million miles per hour in the form of protons and the effect will stay around for a few days because the whole volume of space between Earth and Jupiter is just made with protons, according to Biesecker.

Physicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and Catholic University said that the effect of solar eruption comes in three combinations of blows. First is the electromagnetic radiation, then radiation in the form of protons and lastly, the coronal mass ejection which is the plasma from the sun. The plasma travels at around 1 or 2 million miles per hour at its normal speed but the latest storm is speedier as its plasma travels at 4 million miles per hour.

Quebec had experience a massive blackout in 1989 due to a solar storm but in terms of coronal mass ejection, the latest storm is likely to be only moderate.

However, researchers have recently discovered a spacequake using NASA’s fleet of five THEMIS spacecraft. Although, it is called a spacequake and usually felt most strongly in Earth orbit, it can also affect the surface of the Earth.

THEMIS principal investigator Vassilis Angelopoulos of UCLA said that magnetic reverberations have been detected all over the Earth at ground stations. Angelopoulos explained that Earth’s magnetic field lines can be thought of as rubber bands stretched tight by the solar wind, which is actually charged particles flowing in all directions from the sun.