Donald & All,

I thought I'd just share what I've seen in regard to using those graphs.

In Graph #1 - Solar Flares - The Red upper line is the one used, not the blue. When a flare shows up on the graph you have to check the D-Region Absorption page to see if the flare made Earth impact and where. Yesterday's M did not. The Diamond shape on this page is set by equatorial changes, but it does not accurately reflect where the impact occurred, only the section of the planet.

As for the lower graph, the electron flux, it has been very low for more than a week.

Sometimes, but surely not at all times, when solar flares impact the Earth they can trigger earthquakes at those locations. One case in point occurred a couple of years ago when Lowell was here. A solar flare impacted at the Mendocino Triple Junction. At the exact same time I heard an ear tone and also an earthquake happened. The quake was around a 4 mag.

From discussions with Lowell and others, the rule of thumb has been that solar flares can trigger earthquakes and the electron flux when high can increase volcanic activity. Of course, this could be totally useless most of the time.

I review those charts every single day and check for those Earth impact locations from solar flares and 99% of the time, I have found no correlation between those and earthquake triggering.

Two weeks ago we were having numerous solar flares and the electron flux was huge and earthquake activity was nothing like it is right now, so I think if one were to use this material they would have to dig a little deeper and have the ability to get all of the data and do a 24 hour program to see exactly what goes on daily.

I hope these notes are helpful from what I've seen.

Petra