Those of you who follow the
Solar Climate Change postings may have missed the Russian Earthquake story over the Christmas break
WashingtonPost.com - Strong quake shakes southwestern Siberia; miners evacuated, no injuries, damage reported. This happened a day after the Sun sent out TWO CME's (26th December) but before any sign of any Plasma flow. Although far from an exact science, this points to a "Solar Kick" effect on the Earth in the same way we can see a firework explode and then hear the sound, the CME is seen and the "Solar Kick" Earthquake/Volcano follows (depending on the energy from the CME and it's location). Read more below....GR
TheRegister Lewis Page: Christmas solar plasma belches to hit Earth, Mars - and Mars rover in space
Sun emits festive eruptions, but no bad effects foreseen.
In tune perhaps with the festively-overtaxed digestive processes of many Register readers and hacks, the Sun has lately been giving vent to frightful burning eruptions of internal gas; ones sufficiently awful to mean fatal consequences for unprotected humans in their path.
Fortunately (in the case of the Sun at least) there are no such exposed bystanders. The human race, as it has done for almost its entire history*, is sheltering within the protective magnetic fields of old Earth and top solar boffins expect these to withstand the incoming plasma belches with barely a flicker. An
unruffled statement regarding Christmas and Boxing Day Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) hurled out from the Sun toward Earth issued by the US Space Weather Prediction Centre says:
Geophysical Activity Forecast: The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet to active levels with a chance for isolated minor storm levels on day one (29 December) as multiple CMEs are expected to arrive. Quiet to unsettled level are expected on day two (30 December) as effects the previous CMEs wane. Predominantly quiet levels are expected on day three (31 December).