Japan Earthquake and Solar Flare Could Be Linked

Links between the terrible earthquake in Japan and solar activity is not proven yet, but is quite possible, Russian researchers say.

This year March 11 was marked by a powerful earthquake in Japan and a 10-meter-high tsunami wave. During previous night researchers detected a giant solar flare and tend to think that these two events could have been linked with each other.

One of Chile an earthquake of 2010 was also accompanied with a magnetic storm, which, of course, couldn’t cause the quake, but could have triggered some processes in Earth’s crust. Studies of Russian researchers show that correlation between magnetic storms and earthquakes is 50%, however, relationship between these events is very complex and ambiguous.




New discovery of Russian researchers will help predict intensity and type of solar flares, as well as forecast these events in advance.

Russian astronomers and physicists created an electrodynamics model of solar flares and defined key parameters, responsible for their development speed. Calculation algorithm is based upon changes in preflare state of an active site.

Existing predictions of solar flares are mostly empirical, researchers say. In other words, researchers “see” a magnetic field in an active site and suggest that a flare can burst here within 24 hours.

Using a physical mechanism for predicting a flare is a difficult task, however, if it happens, the forecast will be much more accurate with determining plasma burst direction and calculating flare energy.