Tag: solar flares

Part-III Addendum to (First Will Come Reversal Excursions Then the Flip)

The episodic nature of the Earth’s glacial and interglacial periods within the present Ice Age (the last couple of million years) have been caused primarily by cyclical changes in the Earth’s circumnavigation of the Sun. Variations in the Earth’s eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession comprise the three dominant cycles, collectively known as the Milankovitch Cycles for Milutin Milankovitch, the Serbian astronomer and mathematician who is generally credited with calculating their magnitude. Taken in unison, variations in these three cycles creates alterations in the seasonality of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface. These times of increased or decreased solar radiation directly influence the Earth’s climate system, thus impacting the advance and retreat of Earth’s glaciers.

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The first of the three Milankovitch Cycles is Earth’s axial tilt. It is the inclination of the Earth’s axis in relation to its plane of orbit around the Sun. Oscillations in the degree of Earth’s axial tilt occur on a periodicity of 41,000 years from 21.5 to 24.5 degrees. Today the Earth’s axial tilt is about 23.5 degrees, which largely accounts for our seasons.  Because of the periodic variations of this angle the severity of the Earth’s seasons changes. With less axial tilt the Sun’s solar radiation is more evenly distributed between winter and summer. However, less tilt also increases the difference in radiation receipts between the equatorial and Polar Regions.

The second principle of the Milankovitch Cycle is Earth’s precession. Precession is the Earth’s slow wobble as it spins on axis. This wobbling of the Earth on its axis can be likened to a top running down, and beginning to wobble back and forth on its axis. The precession of Earth wobbles from pointing at Polaris (North Star) to pointing at the star Vega. When this shift to the axis pointing at Vega occurs, Vega would then be considered the North Star. This top-like wobble, or precession, has a periodicity of 23,000 years.

The third principle of the Milankovitch Cycles is the Earth’s eccentricity. Eccentricity is, simply, the shape of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. This constantly fluctuating, orbital shape ranges between more and less elliptical (0 to 5% ellipticity) on a cycle of about 100,000 years. These oscillations, from more elliptic to less elliptic, are of prime importance to glaciation in that it alters the distance from the Earth to the Sun, thus changing the distance the Sun’s short wave radiation must travel to reach Earth, subsequently reducing or increasing the amount of radiation received at the Earth’s surface in different seasons.

BREAKING NEWS: New Paradigm Develops of Earth’s Magnetic Field ‘Above and Below’

Just released, new imaging identifying never before discovery of magnetic fields which sit just above the lithosphere, which includes Earth’s rigid crust and upper mantle. As new oceanic crust is created through mantle plumes, the iron-rich minerals in the upwelling magma are oriented to magnetic north insitu and solidified as the magma cools.

Since magnetic poles flip back and forth over time, the solidified magma due to mantle plumes at mid-oceanic ridges forms magnetic ‘stripes’ on the seafloor which provide a record of Earth’s magnetic history. These magnetic imprints on the ocean floor can be used as a sort of time machine, allowing past field changes to be reconstructed and showing the movement of tectonic plates from hundreds of million years ago until the present day.

It was not that long ago, say 12-15 years, when I was hard pressed regarding my research suggesting charged particles from inner and outer space had a direct causal impact on Earth’s outer and possibly inner cores. Peer reviews just hammered my assumed naïve hypothesis while professing there was simply no way galactic cosmic rays, gamma rays, and of course the best known solar rays such as solar flares or CMEs – could have even the slightest effect on Earth’s surface, let alone lithosphere, mantle, and outer core.

Beginning in early 2012, I turned my attention beyond the Sun-Earth connection, which formulated the true concept of what we now term as ‘Space Weather’. Note: I have been told that I along with Tony Phillips (NASA contractor) are the two who brought the term and understanding of space weather, into general popularity beginning in 1997.

1998 Equation:
Sunspots → Solar Flares (charged particles) → Magnetic Field Shift → Shifting Ocean and Jet Stream Currents → Extreme Weather and Human Disruption (mitch battros 1998).

In going beyond what charged particles such as solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and coronal holes – having their cyclical effects to Earth’s magnetic field and associated chain reaction (see 1998 Equation) in what I was able to successfully shift the long-held term “space climate” to space weather”. The reason for the need to change the term is due to the advanced spacecraft and land based instruments which could then be measured in “real-time”. Historically, the term “climate” had been identified in terms of decades, centuries, even millennia. The term “weather” is measured in hours, days, and weeks.

Now, the European Space Agency (ESA) Swarm mission has been used to measure the magnetic signals of tides from the ocean surface to the seabed, which offers a global picture of how the ocean flows at all depths. When salty ocean water flows through Earth’s magnetic field, an electric current is generated which in turn induces a magnetic signal. The field generated by tides is diminutive making it difficult to measure.

The new magnetic tidal signal measured by Swarm and historical data from the German CHAMP satellite, is important for ocean and climate modeling which is used to determine the electrical properties of the Earth’s lithosphere and upper mantle.

2012 Equation:
Galactic Cosmic Rays → Solar System → Solar Min. & Max. → Earth Magnetic Field → Mantle Plumes → Heated Oceans

Erwan Thebault from the University of Nantes in France said, “This is the highest resolution model of the lithospheric magnetic field ever produced. With a scale of 250 km, we can see structures in the crust like never before. This combined use of satellite and near-surface measurements gives us a new understanding of the crust beneath our feet, and will be of enormous value to science.”

Most of Earth’s magnetic field is generated deep within the outer core by an ocean of superheated, swirling liquid iron, but there are also much weaker sources of magnetism. The Swarm constellation has been used to yield some discoveries about these more elusive signals, such as that from Earth’s lithosphere. A small fraction of the magnetic field comes from magnetized rocks in the upper lithosphere, which includes Earth’s rigid crust and upper mantle.

This lithospheric magnetic field is weaker than the magnetosphere magnetic field and therefore difficult to detect from space. As new oceanic crust is created through mantle plumes, iron-rich minerals in the upwelling magma are oriented to magnetic north at the time and solidified as the magma cools.

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Science Of Cycles Research Fund

Funds have diminished significantly as we come through the holidays and settle into spring. I’m roughly $3,000 short and becoming a little spooky to hold on to this venture. This is certainly not the time to slow down or shut down. In fact, it is the perfect time to gain wind and speed up. The latest news and research is coming in at virtually warp speed  – and it’s ringing bells in almost all areas of my research. It has taken roughly six years since my 2012 Equation to see the science community acknowledge and in some areas embrace my theory.

I can’t stop now, and need your help to keep us going. We truly are at the pinnacle as being one of the best able to absorb, reflect, gather the most important pieces research and new discovers – then to bring it forward in a manner that most fairly and well educated people can understand.

Your assistance has always been at the core of this model, without you we fail. Below is an example of how Science Of Cycles keeps you tuned in and knowledgeable of what we are discovering, and how some of these changes will affect our communities and ways of living.

In some ways my service is to translate what the science community puts out,  which may look something like this: aldkshfewoy934958t74389hdsofh – ldsf98wer98weusdoisd- 02375943yroidsf 0q4w5erofhclkldshf.2-3857rewiosdh -dsflkj3q975reifsdhokvas-;asdfbp423qywe598ruwesd
Then I write: We have just learned that galactic cosmic rays have increased over the last four year by a factor of three. It appears to be having a significant influence on our weakening magnetic field. And now more recently we have learned that during times of solar minimum these charged particles appear to be having an increased effect on Earth’s lithosphere, continuing down into the mantle.

lkasdhfweq9875239q,v8ewry0239759rweosdahlkf,asdhf2947ew593wesudi,asdhf2eyr2380ye9[23′   Okay. Now we’ve learned there is newly discovered ‘second magnetic field’ which sits upon the lower crust of our planet, and down into the lithosphere. This appears to have an effect on ocean tides and mantle plumes.

As mentioned in the above article, it was a real kick to hear that myself and Tony Phillips (NASA contractor) who ushered in the concept and actual words of what we now call ‘space weather’. Some of you might remember some of our spats back in the late 90’s when I would conduct an offensive against something he wrote; then soon after he would return the favor. But I claim we are still ahead and moving in the right direction, even if he does have a closer connection with NASA. Although he maintains his affiliation with the NASA boys, I have the freedom to maintain my connection with the ESA, NOAA, Royal Observatory, US Naval Observatory, NSF, NRC, American Meteorological Society – and to the other side, American Red Cross and Federal Management Office.

I hope your find this research and the presented cutting-edge news of great interest. Please use our method of open-ended donations allowing you to present any amount you choose. There is no limit; whether it be 1 dollar or 1,000 dollars, it goes directly into our work process of accumulation, presentation, and delivery.  **on the banner below to begin this simple process.      Cheers, Mitch

 

Fermi Sees Gamma Rays from ‘Hidden’ Solar Flares

An international science team says NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has observed high-energy light from solar eruptions located on the far side of the Sun, which should block direct light from these events. This apparent paradox is providing solar scientists with a unique tool for exploring how charged particles are accelerated to nearly the speed of light and move across the Sun during solar flares.

“Fermi is seeing gamma rays from the side of the Sun we’re facing, but the emission is produced by streams of particles blasted out of solar flares on the far side of the Sun,” said Nicola Omodei, a researcher at Stanford University in California. “These particles must travel some 300,000 miles within about five minutes of the eruption to produce this light.”

Omodei presented the findings on Monday, Jan. 30, at the American Physical Society meeting in Washington, and a paper describing the results will be published online in The Astrophysical Journal on Jan. 31.

Fermi has doubled the number of these rare events, called behind-the-limb flares, since it began scanning the sky in 2008. Its Large Area Telescope (LAT) has captured gamma rays with energies reaching 3 billion electron volts, some 30 times greater than the most energetic light previously associated with these “hidden” flares.

Thanks to NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft, which were monitoring the solar far side when the eruptions occurred, the Fermi events mark the first time scientists have direct imaging of beyond-the-limb solar flares associated with high-energy gamma rays.

“Observations by Fermi’s LAT continue to have a significant impact on the solar physics community in their own right, but the addition of STEREO observations provides extremely valuable information of how they mesh with the big picture of solar activity,” said Melissa Pesce-Rollins, a researcher at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics in Pisa, Italy, and a co-author of the paper.

The hidden flares occurred Oct. 11, 2013, and Jan. 6 and Sept. 1, 2014. All three events were associated with fast coronal mass ejections (CMEs), where billion-ton clouds of solar plasma were launched into space. The CME from the most recent event was moving at nearly 5 million miles an hour as it left the Sun. Researchers suspect particles accelerated at the leading edge of the CMEs were responsible for the gamma-ray emission.

Large magnetic field structures can connect the acceleration site with distant part of the solar surface. Because charged particles must remain attached to magnetic field lines, the research team thinks particles accelerated at the CME traveled to the Sun’s visible side along magnetic field lines connecting both locations. As the particles impacted the surface, they generated gamma-ray emission through a variety of processes. One prominent mechanism is thought to be proton collisions that result in a particle called a pion, which quickly decays into gamma rays.

In its first eight years, Fermi has detected high-energy emission from more than 40 solar flares. More than half of these are ranked as moderate, or M class, events. In 2012, Fermi caught the highest-energy emission ever detected from the Sun during a powerful X-class flare, from which the LAT detected high­energy gamma rays for more than 20 record-setting hours.

ALMA Starts Observing the Sun – VIDEO

Astronomers have harnessed ALMA‘s capabilities to image the millimeter-wavelength light emitted by the Sun’s chromosphere – the region that lies just above the photosphere, which forms the visible surface of the Sun. The solar campaign team, an international group of astronomers with members from Europe, North America and East Asia, produced the images as a demonstration of ALMA’s ability to study solar activity at longer wavelengths of light than are typically available to solar observatories on Earth.   Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)

Astronomers have studied the Sun and probed its dynamic surface and energetic atmosphere in many ways through the centuries. But, to achieve a fuller understanding, astronomers need to study it across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including the millimeter and submillimeter portion that ALMA can observe.

       

Since the Sun is many billions of times brighter than the faint objects ALMA typically observes, the ALMA antennas were specially designed to allow them to image the Sun in exquisite detail using the technique of radio interferometry – and avoid damage from the intense heat of the focused sunlight. The result of this work is a series of images that demonstrate ALMA’s unique vision and ability to study our Sun.The data from the solar observing campaign are being released this week to the worldwide astronomical community for further study and analysis.

The team observed an enormous sunspot at wavelengths of 1.25 millimeters and 3 millimeters using two of ALMA’s receiver bands. The images reveal differences in temperature between parts of the Sun’s chromosphere. Understanding the heating and dynamics of the chromosphere are key areas of research that will be addressed in the future using ALMA.Sunspots are transient features that occur in regions where the Sun’s magnetic field is extremely concentrated and powerful. They are lower in temperature than the surrounding regions, which is why they appear relatively dark.

The difference in appearance between the two images is due to the different wavelengths of emitted light being observed. Observations at shorter wavelengths are able to probe deeper into the Sun, meaning the 1.25 millimeter images show a layer of the chromosphere that is deeper, and therefore closer to the photosphere, than those made at a wavelength of 3 millimeters.

ALMA is the first facility where ESO is a partner that allows astronomers to study the nearest star, our own Sun. All other existing and past ESO facilities need to be protected from the intense solar radiation to avoid damage. The new ALMA capabilities will expand the ESO community to include solar astronomers.

First Ever Direct Analysis of Magnetic Loop Reconnect

In a paper published on May 12th 2016 in the scientific journal Science, a research team that includes a West Virginia University physicist helped shed light on the process of magnetic reconnection — which occurs when magnetic fields, such as those around the planet, break and reconnect. The paper details discoveries from NASA’s unprecedented Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission that launched four identical spacecraft into Earth’s magnetic shield to measure reconnection.

Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft2

On Oct. 16, 2015, MMS flew through the heart of a reconnection region, and scientists were able to perform the first-ever physics experiment in that environment. It is the first time that researchers have detected the exact point of reconnection.

Scientists are making new discoveries about a process that causes some of the most explosive events in the universe. At the same time, they are answering questions about Earth’s magnetosphere — the protective bubble around Earth that shields the planet from the Sun’s constant barrage of superheated, electrically charged particles.

electrically charged particles

The satellites directly measured the energy being converted during reconnection; it produced heat at a rate comparable to 10 million 200-watt solar panels. They also directly measured the mixing of charged particles from outside and inside the magnetic bubble, confirming that reconnection had occurred.

“Magnetic reconnection leads to events like solar flares and auroral displays so it is easy to see its aftereffects, but scientists have never been able to directly observe the point where it occurs until now,” says Paul Cassak, associate professor of physics in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and co-author of the paper. “The tiny sizes involved and the extreme speed of the reconnection process make it difficult to study.”

Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft

Up until MMS, scientists were unable to measure the smallest scales of reconnection because it was impossible to process data fast enough to determine what was occurring. With this mission, instruments were able to record data 100 times faster than ever before, fast enough to see where magnetic fields break.

Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft2

“The amount of data collected and the speed at which it was collected is remarkable,” says Cassak, whose role on the project was developing numerical simulations to help scientists understand what happens in the region where reconnection occurs. “Nobody thought the mission would be this successful this soon.”

As part of the MMS Theory and Modeling team, Cassak used MMS observations and sophisticated computer simulations to analyze how magnetic fields reconnect around Earth.

Along with the research team, Cassak determined the properties in the reconnection region. He ran a simulation using a supercomputer operated by the Department of Energy that put the observed results in a two-dimensional context, as opposed to the one-dimensional data that comes from the satellites.

The simulations produced a large amount of data — almost a third of a terabyte — and would have taken almost a year and a half to do on a single computer.

The simulation ultimately illustrates how magnetic reconnection happens. One goal of this type of research is to help space weather scientists predict how the magnetosphere will behave so that appropriate preparations can be made.

“Learning what causes magnetic fields to break has significant, fundamental implications for scientists because it is very difficult to resolve these types of scales, even in the lab,” says Cassak. “If scientists are able to use MMS to understand what is happening at small scales in the magnetosphere, they can apply this knowledge to other settings where reconnection is important, from space weather to fusion applications in the laboratory.”

Cassak says that the mission is still very young and there is much more to observe. MMS’s orbit will continue to focus on the day-side of Earth for another six months. Then, the orbit will be changed and it will focus on the night-side with the hopes that the spacecraft will encounter another reconnection region. Scientists expect the reconnection process to look different on the night-side, and hope to understand what drives events that cause auroral displays.

Cassak’s work is the latest groundbreaking research to come from WVU’s physics and astronomy department. Among other discoveries, WVU researchers were part of teams that recently detected gravitational waves for the first time and discovered that fast radio bursts are found to repeat.