Severe Geomagnetic Storm Research Project:

While we are under the influx of the super X2.2 flare of the Sun and the Earth directed CME´s, New Zealand has suffered one of its worst earthquakes in its history.
The 6.3 quake that struck Christchurch has devastated this town killing at least 65 people but with hundreds trapped under chunks of concrete.
CNN New Zealand Earthquake

At the same time, on Monday, Bulusan Volcano erupted on Monday, the 21st of February in the Phylippines.

Thousands of people in the Philippines fled their homes as a volcano erupted on Monday, sending a spectacular column of ash high into the sky, residents said.

Source: Eturbonews.com

Furthermore, this special activity on the Sun has caused waves of ionization rippling through the Earth´s upper atmosphere suppressing some radio frequencies and boosting others

Waves of ionization are rippling through Earth's upper atmosphere in response to the recent onslaught of solar flares. This affects the propagation of radio signals--suppressing some frequencies and boosting others. By monitoring distant transmitters at a frequency of 23.4 kHz, Rudolf Slosiar of Bojnice, Slovakia detected nearly a dozen sudden ionospheric disturbances (SIDs) on Feb. 18th:

Source:
Spaceweather

Related?
Something to keep an eye on.

Here come the sunspots....

APPROACHING ACTIVE REGION: A significant active region is about to emerge over the sun's northeastern limb. The underlying sunspots are not yet visible from Earth, but the region's towering magnetic canopy is already in view.

www.spaceweather.com...

*GOES 15 will replace GOES 11 as Secondary SWPC GOES Proton, Electron and Magnetometer Satellite on February 28 at 1800UT.

3.5 M-class flare on 2011/02/24 07:23:00. This active area is just now rolling in from the West limb and should appear in a day or two.

Here's the video of the M3.5 eruption:

More videos and images available at: helioviewer.org...

A minor geomagnetic storm is in progress from the effects of a large trans-equatorial coronal hole (CH438).

Space Weather Message Code: ALTK05
Serial Number: 651
Issue Time: 2011 Mar 01 1320 UTC

ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 5
Threshold Reached: 2011 Mar 01 1321 UTC
Synoptic Period: 1200-1500 UTC
Station: Boulder
Active Warning: Yes
NOAA Scale: G1 - Minor

Sunspot 11164 has rapidly developed and may produce a geo-effective X-class flares within the next few days. An M1.1 flare erupted from this area on 2011/02/28.

reply to post by Regenmacher


Thanks for the updates rainman.

...Hate to be a demanding pest, but is there any way you can flag periods of low / extremely low frequency GMAs?

Thanks again, sofi

reply to post by soficrow


I am not aware of any ELF monitoring sites in relation to space weather. There used to be one many moons ago, but the guy gave it up after his equipment died.

Here's a VLF site:
sid.stanford.edu...
I have no experience in monitoring this data.


Not sure what you mean by "flag periods"?

9 M-class flares have taken place in the last 24 hours. The largest being a M3.7 flare with a CME that has produced a minor proton storm event.

Space Weather Message Code: WARPX1
Serial Number: 305
Issue Time: 2011 Mar 07 2218 UTC

WARNING: Proton 10MeV Integral Flux above 10pfu expected
Valid From: 2011 Mar 07 2230 UTC
Valid To: 2011 Mar 08 2230 UTC
Warning Condition: Onset
Predicted NOAA Scale: S1 - Minor

CME arrival times are as follows:

Event Issue Date: 2011-03-08 01:13:58.0 GMT
CME Arrival Time: 2011-03-09 18:53:18.0 GMT
Arival Time Confidence Level: ± 6 hours
Disturbance Duration: 9 hours
Disturbance Duration Confidence Level: ± 8 hours
Magnetopause Standoff Distance: 5.3 Re
Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:53:18 GMT
Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:53:18 GMT

Event Issue Date: 2011-03-07 19:41:06.0 GMT
CME Arrival Time: 2011-03-10 19:33:07.0 GMT
Arival Time Confidence Level: ± 6 hours
Disturbance Duration: 12 hours
Disturbance Duration Confidence Level: ± 8 hours
Magnetopause Standoff Distance: 6.2 Re
Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:33:07 GMT
Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:33:07 GMT

March 8, 2011 (Activity Update): The final tally of M flares for March 7 was seven and 2 more thus far on March 8, wth Regions 11164, 11165, and 11166 all contributing towards that total. Regions 11164 ad 11166 each also gave us an Earth directed Coronal Mass Ejection. Further analysis is definitely warranted and expect further updates on the expected impacts of these CMEs. Finally, the CME associated with region 11164 has produced a weak proton storm at Earth that is in progress and still rising at the time of this update. These three regions are continuing to grow and we definitely expect high levels of solar activity to continue.

Expect geomagnetic storms from March 9th thru the 11th and tropical storm formation off the East coast of Australia.

X1.5 flare on 2011/03/09 at 23:23:00UTC: This was a geoffective flare emanated from sunspot 11166 with very little plasma discharge. Minor storm levels may occur from March 11th thru the 12th.

Protons on the rise with latest X-class flare:

reply to post by Regenmacher


Geomagnetic activity can cause quakes and volcanic activity - there's some kind of feedback loop as I recall. Seems to me this solar maximum and all the solar flares might be contributing to recent earthquakes and volcanic activity in Japan, Hawaii, China, and etc.

Are you (or anyone) aware of any project or agency that monitors the correlation between geophysical activity and geomagnetic activity?

Thanks, sofi

Originally posted by soficrow
reply to post by Regenmacher

 

Geomagnetic activity can cause quakes and volcanic activity - there's some kind of feedback loop as I recall. Seems to me this solar maximum and all the solar flares might be contributing to recent earthquakes and volcanic activity in Japan, Hawaii, China, and etc.

Are you (or anyone) aware of any project or agency that monitors the correlation between geophysical activity and geomagnetic activity?

Thanks, sofi

Ptolomeo is suppose to be the quake watcher. I am the weather nut.

Seems that quake in Japan is more than mere coincidence though, considering we just had a geomag storm.