Spacequakes & Earths plasma jet | images, video and explanation

Earths spacequakes and fast plasma jet explanation, images and video from the European Geosciences Union's Press Conference in 2010. The spacequakes and fast plasma jet was explained by Rumi Nakamura, Evgeny Panov and Wolfgang Baumjohann.

Depending on the speaker it is either a paraphrase or a near literal transcript of their discoveries and explanation of earths spacequakes. Links to the full video of the spacequakes press conference and the written press release are available at the bottom of the page. Most images can be clicked on to view a larger version.

The explanations given below are from the authors of the report. Is there any alternative explanation to what they are and what is causing spacequakes and especially the fast plasma jet? Why does the plasma in this area suddenly accelerate towards the earthm against the solar wind? Why are spacequakes and earthquake signatures so similar? To read more about these questions click here. Also forum discussion on the spacequakes

Sun-Earth Connection

the ultimate energy for us is the sun - the sun connection and suns eruption show by the recent picture from the SDO of the solar flare - strong plasma charged particles moving at 1 million kmh - solar plasma flare takes 2 or 3 days to hit the earths magnetosphere - on the dayside the magnetosphere protects the earth from the suns plasma hitting directly onto its surface

Small penetration of the solar wind

there is a small penetration of the solar wind plasma from dayside magnetic field connection and reconnection - on the nightside another area where the magnetic field lines reconnect

10% of the solar wind plasma enters the magnetosphere due to magnetic reconnections on the dayside - nightside reconnection jets plasma towards the earth (video time 4:05 '??? force') accelerates the solar plasma jet to the earth - the magnetosphere does not go towards earth but the plasma jet does. why is this? that is the theme today

What happens when plasma jets reaches near-earth?

what happens when the plasma jets reaches near-earth was not clear - when the magnetic reconnections occur at the nightside (blue 'x' right hand side) the plasma jet accelerates towards the earth - what happens when the plasma jet reaches towards the earth? this is not clear - how does this happen? why is this? what is going on? sometimes you see an aurora

NASA/THEMIS mission

5 probes with identical instruments started in 2007 - realized for the first time an ideal configuration to study the near-earth consquences of plasma jets

specific configuration - where the plasma jet hits the near-earths magnetosphere

THEMIS finding of flow bouncing

plasma jet is rebufffed at the inner magnetosphere and opposite vortex flow pattern appears as seen in these images

what happens when the downtail flow goes towards the earths magnetospheres fieldlines?

graph = up (2 to 6 on graph) is equatorial plane which is the green line in diagram)and direction (-8 to -14) is the red line in the diagram

the coloured dots are the probes located where the red arrow meets the earths magnetic field lines

the plasma flow moves towards the earth and it is diverted duskward and downwards - when the plasma flow is rebuffed and goes down tailward it is also diverted duskward and downwards but the opposite way to when the plasma is flowing in

the idea we came up with about what is going, from the observations, are the plasma jet coming from the downtail towards the earths dipolar magnetic field line - the magnetic field line gets indented and the plasma jet is diverted on the equatorial plane then the indented blue line starts to push the plasma jet flow down tailward and you see the flow behaviour the opposite way

Earths fast plasma jet and spacequakes - computer simulation

only 5 spacecraft and 5 points of space so very limited information - we dont really know what is going on in the other points of space

in principle we can model the situation to some extent or supported facts from the the computer simulation shows the plasma jet flow hitting the dipolar field line (earthward propagation flow is left hand snapshot image - duskward and downward) and being rebuffed tailward (right hand image in the larger image)

Oscillation of flows damps

you see not just the original rebuffing but more oscillations, this is damping - the first earthward flow (of the plasma jet) is 300 kms then the next oscillation goes down to 150 kms then 100 kms

it is a similar situation to when someone throughs a ball or a log on the water and it bobs up and down and in time it stops

ground signatures - aurora - magnetic fields - plasma jet

spacequakes - there is an analogy with an earthquake - an earthqake is normally a very disastrous event - the aurora is triggered by the spacequakes and has an optical signature (upper right image) - the optical aurora is oscillating back and forth in intensity and this is a direct consquence of the spacequake

there is another possibility of detecting the spacequake and that is by watching the earths magnetic field - the easiest way is to use a compass - if it is sensitive enough you will see it moves up and down and then damps out until it is at rest - if you compare the ground magnetic signature observations with the plasmas jet bouncing back and forth on the nightside you see the nice correspondance - and this is the reason we like to call it a space quake

if you are interested in the energies the typical spacequake compares to earthquake of the magnitude 6.2 to 6.3

spacequakes and earthquakes - similar signatures

left hand side is spacequake - an isoloated ground magnetogram - below it is collection of magnetograms from the Bastille Day event (Bastille Day space weather event July 14th 2000) - a very strong spacequake

(image on right)) is siesmic activity from earthquake and we see a damp type curve from the seismogram similar to the spacequake and the magnetograms from the china earthquake (m6.9) on april 14 2010

there is a similarity between them (spacequakes and earthquakes and the similar timescale is remarkable

Space storm effects on Earth

the spacequake shown was a small spacequake where the plasma jet hit the inner magnetosphere and was rebuffed and bounced several times - simlar to a normal small earthquake on earth, like a normal small one in japan

the aurora is caused by magnetic particles coming down into the atmosphere like a neon light

the Bastille Day weather event and spacequakes similar to that caused by massive space weather events trigger the aurora and magnetic compass needles moving - massive spacequakes also endanger life in space in the upper regions when flying in northern areas - when you see the aurora and you keep flying during these events it may not be so nice for you (multiple trips during strong spacequakes = long term health issues)

a magnetic needle deflection can only happens when there is a current flowing in the ioniosphere - there will be induction currents in any big magnetic metal line maybe a powerline or pipeline for oil - the big space weather events are of interest to people living in northern areas like skandinavia. people are not really effect but $millions of damage could be done

the challenge is to understand space weather and how does energy from the outer magnetosphere get into the inner magnetosphere - the process we are detecting now is so important to understanding the flow of energy in the magnetosphere

Summary of spacequakes presentation

inner magnetosphere rebuffs fast plasma jets thereby causing spacequakes

10% of the energy comes from the nightside - paricularly important is that the solar plasma wind is accelerated there again as the fast speed plasma jet - the flow is rebuffed due to earths magnet field - the earths magnetosphere protects us again from the solar plasma wind - the earths magnetosphere keeps rebuffing the fast plasma jet back and forth and creates the spacequake - effects on earth are seen as the aurora - the source region of auroras is in the magentosphere and the ionosphere

Any questions from the gathered hordes?

Question = what is the magnituted of the event? Answer = very small solar storm or spacequake is 5.5 earthquake, 6.1 for substorm, storm = 6.8 = china earthquake in 2010

energy = 10 to the 15 joule. spacequake is larger than the region of earth that is effected by an earthquake and so earthquake does more damage

plasma jet is 6000 km width or the radius of the earth - can increase up to 30000 km

total energy of spacequake and earthquake is similar but the energy density is different - spacequakes we are 10000s of km away so the direct impact is small but for a spacecraft located close to these spacequakes it would be disastrous

Question = are auroras triggered by spacequakes? Answer = yes by strong spacequakes and substorms - the activity on the nightside of the earth in the magnetosphere triggers the aurora

if you have a large plasma jet then you get a larger aurora - we are learning how the aurora is triggered

Question = how long does it take for the reconnection on the nightside? Answer = how long does it take from the dayside to the nightside it takes 15 mins to 30 mins

Question = what is the amplitude of the oscilation of the fieldline? Answer = 30000 km - the magnet field line moves from 6000 km to 30000 km back and forth. (another part of the answer was a few 1000 km but i dont know what it was about)

single period of oscilation is about 100 seconds so in 1 minute you have the full oscilation

** Full video of the spacequakes press conference at the EGU 2010 on Monday 3 May

** Spacequakes discovery press release from the European Geosciences Union 2010

** Spacequakes triggered by Suns Plasma Bombs | English translation of German article

** Auroras | explanation an Electric Universe

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