This article (started on 02/03/201) was prompted by the N. Zealand earthquake to establish if there is a link between the geomagnetic activity (magnetic storms) and acceleration of the earthquake's occurrence.
It is not claimed that geomagnetic storm is a primary cause of any
earthquake. However if conditions for an earthquake are 'ripe' i.e. tectonic fault 'gone critical', then solar
storm could be a trigger (not the cause) for it, and bring it forward for few hours or days.
The Earth's lithosphere and mantle respond to Space Weather through time-varying, depth-dependent induced magnetic and electric fields. A time-varying magnetic field of a geomagnetic storm induces electric currents in the conducting ground. These currents create a secondary (internal) magnetic field. As a consequence of Faraday's law of induction, an electric field is induced in the Earth's lithosphere associated with time variations of the magnetic field. The induced electric field causes geomagnetically induced electric currents.
There
is strong evidence of electromagnetic processes responsible for earthquake
triggering, that we study extensively. We will focus here on one
correlation between power in solar wind compressional fluctuations and
power in magnetospheric pulsations and ground H component fluctuations. The
variation of the horizontal component H of the geomagnetic field is the
crucial parameter in the Magneto-Seismic Effect MSE to be discussed in a
companion paper. The connection of earthquake activity to possible solar or
solar wind drivers is not well understood; many authors have attempted
correlations in the past with mixed results.
Geophysical Research Abstracts,Vol.8,01705, 2006;Lab for Solar and Space Physics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,Greenbelt, MD
http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGU06/01705/EGU06-J-01705.pdf
Scientists have been tracking and studying substorms for more than a century, yet these phenomena remained mostly unknown until THEMIS went into action. Even more impressive was the substorm's power. Angelopoulos estimates the total energy of the two-hour event at five hundred thousand billion ( 5 x 10^14 ) Joules. That's approximately equivalent to the energy of a magnitude 5.5 earthquake
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2007/11dec_themis/
J
Geomagnetic storm of 10-11 March coinciding with the Japan's mega-quake lasted nearly 24 hours.
Illustration of "Vukcevic Effect"
It is likely that in the electrical terms any tectonic fault is also the weakest point in the global electric circuit.
MAP
Mag 9.0
2011/03/11 05:46:24 lat 38.322 lon 142.369 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
