A solar flare. (Photo: NASA)
Greetings my readers, I'm back in Los Angeles for a few weeks before returning to Japan. Even though I'll be in Tokyo, I will continue to write about earthquake activity here in Los Angeles, as well as general emergency preparedness.
This year has brought us powerful earthquakes like those in New Zealand and in Japan. It's not unusual to have strong earthquakes every year, and countries like Japan and New Zealand sit on the Pacific Ring of Fire where frequent seismic activity occurs. But this year we've also had some very unusual seismic activity in the United States, very far from the ring of fire.
In Mineral, Virginia a 5.9 magnitude quake struck on August 23. The quake shook many parts of the East Coast including New York and Washington, DC -- all the way to Canada. It took everyone by surprise and it made headlines around the world. Though there are old faults beneath the area where the quake's epicenter was, no one really was expecting activity that strong.
This week we've had the unusual earthquakes in Oklahoma too. A 5.2 and 5.6 magnitude shook eastern Oklahoma, followed by a dozen of aftershocks. This unusually high seismic activity even has geologists from the USGS scratching their heads.
The Sun
I've been reading a lot about the link of earthquake activity and solar flares. This year, the sun has been quite active and it'll remain so until 2013. Some scientist insist that there is a correlation between earthquakes and powerful solar flares -- that when one of this flares explodes, an earthquake on Earth usually follows. Even Harvard is looking into this: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007AGUSMIN33A..03J
Could powerful solar flares help predict earthquakes? My guess is no. An earthquake may indeed happen, but figuring out where is the problem.
Many believe that the sun's activity does have an effect on the Earth's electromagnetic field. According to a USGS page:
Electromagnetic variations have been observed after earthquakes for many years now, but What is less clear is whether or not there are detectable electro-magnetic precursors to earthquakes.
Can it be that the sun's influence on our planet's magnetism is the precursor?
What we know for sure is that when the sun produces such strong flares, it can disturb communications on earth. Those satellites floating on the atmosphere are vulnerable to radiation and problems can happen. Some people would go as far as create doomsday scenerios of what would happen if a powerful solar flare explodes when facing the direction of Earth, but we really don't need mass hysteria.
Earthquakes influenced by the sun or not, it's important to know that Mother Nature can be unpredictable. Here in Southern California we don't know when a quake will hit, and most of us live our lives as if it will never happen. "Ignorance is bliss," right? But, living everyday ignoring the fact that there are dozens of active faults beneath us, is dangerous.
If you haven't prepared your earthquake bag, stored water and food, and created an emergency plan for you and your family yet, get to it. Here is a good resource to get you started: ReadyLA.org
As always, I hope you enjoy this blog. It's reader supported, so please donate if you can. Until next time, please be and stay safe.
