SOLAR FLARES CONTINUE WHILE EUROPE IS SUB- and ANTI-SOLAR

SUMMARY

As occurred yesterday, two more M-4+ class solar flares occurred today. The first
of these occurred while Central Europe was at noon (sub-solar), and the second
occurred while Europe was anti-solar (local midnight).
The unusually high seismicity that was experienced in Europe yesterday continued
today as well. Earthquakes of Mb 4.8 (MAD) occurred in the Pyrennes, Spain;
Mb 3.3 in Central Italy; and after the first flare Mb 3.8 in Central Italy and
finally events of Mb 4.5 (IGNV) in Southern Greece this evening and of Ml 4.3 in Cyprus this
morning. For details of these events see below or the EMSC web site at:

http://www.emsc-csem.org/cgi-bin/ALERT_all_messages.sh?1

On the other side of the world at the international Date Line (180E) two Mb 5.0
earthquakes occurred in the Fiji Islands near the anti-solar longitude of the first
flare.

GLOBAL

It was a day of moderately high seismicity around the globe today. Earthquakes of
Mb>=4 have been listed for the southern (Mb 5.0) and northern (Mb 5.0) Fiji Islands.
The largest earthquakes of the day were of Mb 5.2 in the Solomon Islands and in
Argentina. Other activity occurred near Kamchatka (Mb 4.5); Peru (Mb 4.5); and the
Mariana Islands (Mb 5.0).

U.S./CANADA

The largest event in the U.S./Canada region today was a Mb 3.7 in Southern Alaska.
In California, the largest event was an apparently solar flare-triggered event
of Ml 3.2 in the Calexico region of So. California. A Ml 2.7 also occurred in
the Baldwin Hills area in the Los Angeles region. A Ml 2.9 also struck the Bishop, CA
area this morning and was preceded by a Ml 2.5 north near Tonopah Junction, NV.
A Ml 2.7 also hit near Viola, No. California this evening. In total, the California-
Nevada region listed 9 events of Ml>=2 today, slightly more than has been usual
in the past several months.
Other areas of the U.S./Canada were quiet today, however a Ml 2.0 was recorded
near Yakima, WA.

NEW ZEALAND

The IGNS on-line seismogram continued to show moderate regional seismicity
throughout the day, however, IGSN did not issue any new earthquake reports
today.

The IGNS on-line Seismometer can be found at:
http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/earthquakes/latest_drum.GEOMAGNETIC/SOLAR FIELDS

The sun continued active today with several additional M-class
solar flares. The largest of these flares occurred at noon and midnight
UT and were most likely to have affected the sub- and anti-solar areas of
Europe and Africa, as did the flares yesterday. There was no noticeable
enhancement in the geomagnetic field, however SEC expects a moderate storm
to occur tomorrow as the earth is struck by the solar wind from the M5.0 flare
yesterday. The largest earthquake in California today occurred as a Ml 3.3
in the region of Calexico and was simultaneous with the maximum output of
flare #7110 occurring at 18:27 UT. An event of 1.2 at Perris CA corresponded
with the maximum of that flare as well at 18:23 UT. A small earthquake in the
Tres Pinos area of central California accompanied the start of flare 7120.

Flare # START MAX END CLASS

7050 + 1156 1226 1236 M3.9
7110 + 1807 1823 1844 M1.0
7120 + 2028 2037 2047 M1.4
7180 + 2349 0010 0027 M4.4

For general space weather conditions see:
http://sec.noaa.gov/today.html
For Solar flare data see:
http://sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/events/20020221events.txt