Solar flares often disrupt Earth’s upper atmosphere and help power stunning auroras. Now, scientists suggest those same bursts of solar energy might also influence earthquakes.
When a solar flare erupts toward our planet, it can subtly rearrange charged particles in Earth’s ionosphere, a region of the upper atmosphere filled with electrically charged gas. In a new study, the researchers suggest that those changes may slightly alter the electrical forces within Earth’s crust and affect the stability of faults where earthquakes can occur.
If this connection can be proved, it would link space weather to earthquake risk in a way scientists don’t currently account for. But other researchers cautioned that the model used in the study, published Feb. 3 in the International Journal of Plasma Environmental Science and Technology, is overly simplified, and that real-world geology may dampen the effect to nearly nothing.
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