Copyright © June 2001 Jared Freedman

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Solar Typhoons and
Earth Crust Displacements

An article by Jared Freedman

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Solar-Terrestrial Physics 101

        The Sun is a complex system.  It is a nuclear dynamo that baths
        the Earth in a wide spectrum of energy.  Most of the energy
        strikes the Earth as sunlight and heat.  It is estimated that on a
        normal day, 95% of the energy is transmitted this way.  The
        other 5% strike the Earth as a stream of charged particles,
        called the Solar Wind, and is responsible for all Space Weather.

        The Earth is also a complex system.  It has a rotating iron core
        that generates an intense magnetic field, usually 50 times
        stronger than the field created by the Sun.  At the source, the
        Suns field is much stronger than the Earths field, but the
        magnetic force, like gravity, decreases in power with the
        inverse square law.  By the time the field has reached the
        Earth, the force has decreased dramatically.

        Beyond the core,  classical theories of Geology then go on to
        identify several more layers. The molten outer core, made of
        iron and nickel, spins at a slightly slower rotational velocity than
        the inner core, and is believed to contain convection currents.
        Next is the mantle, which is composed of mostly solid silicate
        material, and also is believed to contain convection currents.
        Lastly comes the crust, the thin solid piece that is anywhere
        from 6 40 kilometers deep.  The crust and the upper portion
        of the mantle are separated by a zone called the Mohorovicic
        Discontinuity (or Moho), which marks the transition of state
        between crust and mantle.  The Moho is of key importance to
        this hypothesis, and will be treated in detail in a later section.
        The crust, the Moho, and the upper part of the Mantle, which
        all contain fractures and faults, are collectively called the
        lithosphere. An image of a cross-section of the Earth is
        presented below:

The magnetic field created by the Earth projects up to 60,000 kilometers into space, and this projection is called the Magnetosphere.  An artist representation of the magnetosphere is presented below:

The yellow lines represent the solar wind, and the blue represents the magnetosphere.   The red rings represent the radiation belt and ring currents.  As you can see, the solar wind compresses the leading side (sunward) of the magnetosphere, and stretches the tailing side.  The boundary of the magnetic field is called the magnetopause, and logically enough, the tailing side is called the magnetotail.    Next -->