Hi Chris. Over a period of a couple of years Dr. Lowell Whiteside has explained to me the correlation between major quakes and a coronal mass ejection (CME.) It appears that scientist in India have made a study of this and have found that there is a correlation between CMEs and earthquakes. Please keep in mind that I’m going from memory for most of the material here. Most of this is being taken from a post I made in June of this year.

In the past it has been noted that whenever there is an increase in protons there is a decrease in earthquakes. The reason being is that the electrons are drawn to the protons. Whenever there is an increase in X-rays (upper M and X flares) there will be an increase in earthquakes in and around areas that for the most part are volcanic in nature. However this affect largely depends on the location of the impact of the (CME)

Some of you may remember that when I was making earthquake forecasts using my raw onion and garlic sandwiches with a Corona Beer to wash it all down that in the event there was a large (CME) the quake would occur early, or be at least one magnitude larger then forecasted. In some case it could be both. As noted there were a few instances where this did occur. The earthquake swarm in the Coso Volcanic Fields a couple of years ago was the results of a solar flare.

On 24th January 2001 an earth directed (CME) which took two days to reach the earths
surface. When it did a major earthquake of magnitude 7.9 occurred in Gujarat on the west coast of India. For the entire world, a total of 65 earthquakes were reported on the same day.

Explosive events on the Sun can charge the magnetosphere with energy, generating magnetic storms that occasionally may affect the active faults in igneous geosphere to trigger the shallow focus earthquake. This correlation is observed in case of many more earthquakes in entire world. Besides these it has been observed that there is an increased occurrence of earthquakes globally in this period of solar maximum.

If the (CME) is earth directed, it may produce earthquakes if active fault zones fall in that latitude. It is possible to forecast the possibility of triggering of earthquake by looking into the location of active sunspot before it harbors energy towards earth. At present time I don’t know if that is being done.

I don’t know how much of this has helped you, but under the circumstances it’s the best I can do at present. Hope you understand. Take Care…Don in creepy town

Here is a copy of India study. No matter what I did I couldn’t get the link to post.

Sorry Canie for taking up so much bandwidth.

1___ Potsdam Thinkshop Poster Proceedings, p. 139–142
Change in magnetic field: an early warning system to understand
seismotectonics
S. MUKHERJEE and A. MUKHERJEE
School Of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067, India
Received July 24, 2002; accepted July 24, 2002
Abstract. A correlation is attempted with the occurrence of global earthquake and earth directed coronal mass ejections and
change in magnetic field of earth-sun environment. On 24th January 2001 an earth directed coronal mass was ejected which
took two days to reach the earth surface and a major earthquake of magnitude 7.9 occurred in Gujarat, west coast of India. In
entire world, a total of 65 earthquakes have been reported on the same day . Earth directed coronal mass ejection produced a
suspected invisible tail of electrified gas. The tail which streams from earth towards Sun was spotted by IMAGE spacecraft.
Explosive events on the Sun can charge the magnetosphere with energy, generating magnetic storms that occasionally may
affect the active faults in igneous geosphere to trigger the shallow focus earthquake. This correlation is observed in case
of many more earthquakes in entire world. Besides these it has been observed that there is an increased occurrence of
earthquakes globally in this period of solar maximum. Sunspots are continuously increasing in 2001 and there are increased
chances of earthquake during this period. Earthquake prone active fault areas of whole world may be monitored by highresolution
satellite data. In hundreds of cases it has been observed that earth directed coronal mass ejection be followed by
change in Sun-Earth magnetic field leads to remarkable changes in Earth environment. If the Coronal mass ejection (CME)
is earth directed, it may produce earthquakes if active fault zones are falling in that latitude. It is possible to forecast the
possibility of triggering of earthquake by looking into the location of active sunspot before it harbors energy towards earth.
Whatever be the manifestations in the environment of the atmosphere or geosphere there is a positive correlation of CME with
change in magnetic field followed by aurora borealis or sudden spark of light from sky before earthquake. It is recommended
that all the coronal mass ejections should be watched carefully.
Key words: Sun: CMEs – solar-terrestrial relation – eartquakes
1. Introduction
The energy released during a sun flare is typically of the order
of 1027 ergs per second. Large flares can emit energy up to
1032 ergs per second. The energy is ten million times greater
than the energy released from a volcanic explosion (Hathaway
2001). Different types of earthquake lights have been
reported before, during and after severe earthquakes. Some
observers have seen red, blue or white glows, while others
have described them as balls of fire or flashes from the sky.
Such observations have been assigned different causes. Some
attribute them to the lightning from a thundercloud; some to
sparks in the electric power lines, while others to the generation
of static electricity in the vicinity of focal zone of
earthquakes where relative movements of rocks may produce
heat and light. Over the sea, such light could arise from lu-
Correspondence to: dr.saumitramukherjee@usa.net
minous marine organisms excited by the vibrations produced
by the earthquakes (Srivastava 1983).Earthquake lights have
been reported before several earthquakes globally. It has been
suggested that adsorption of condensation of water could be
thought of an energy source for the release of light from solid
particles suspended in a cooling column of air above ground.
But this theory could not explain the occurrence of light from
sky (Srivastava 1983).Occurrence of lights during earthquake
may be explained by the sunspot activities during solar maximum
(NASA 2001).
2. Correlation of coronal mass ejection with
triggering of earthquakes
Coronal mass ejection, increase in Kp values (more than 4),
sudden increase in X-ray flux and electron flux can be forewarning
of seismic disturbance in earthquake prone active
fault areas (Mukherjee, 2001). On 24th January 2001 an earth
directed coronal mass was ejected which took two days to
1___ Potsdam Thinkshop on Sunspots and Starspots, eds. K. G. Strassmeier & A. Washuettl, AIP, 2002
140 1___ Potsdam Thinkshop Poster Proceedings
Fig. 1. Increasing Sunspots on 24.1.2001 (Courtesy NASA). CME
was earth directed, before the occurrence of earthquake of Gujarat,
India on 26.1.2001.
Fig. 2. Increasing Sunspots on 10.2.2001. No earth directed CME...
no earthquake triggering.
Fig. 3. Increase in Planetary K index(more than 4), 36 hours before
January 26, Gujarat earthquake.
Fig. 4. X-ray flux increase due to CME, 36 hours before occurrence
of Gujarat earthquake of 26.1.2001.
reach the earth surface and a major earthquake of magnitude
7.9 occurred in Gujarat, west coast of India. This area was
reported as seismically active (Mukherjee 1999). In entire
world, a total of 65 earthquakes have been reported on the
same day (NEIC-2001). Earth directed coronal mass ejection
produced a suspected invisible tail of electrified gas. IMAGE
spacecraft (NASA science news 2001) spotted the tail, which
streams from earth towards Sun. Explosive events on the Sun
can charge the magnetosphere with energy, generating magnetic
storms that occasionally may affect the active faults in
igneous/sedimentary/metamorphic geosphere and change its
viscosity (Marsh 1981; Brandish and Marsh, 1989) to trigger
the shallow focus earthquake.
It has been observed that there is an increased occurrence
of earthquakes globally in this period of solar maximum.
Change in geomorphologic studies was carried out to
detect active fault areas with seismic activity (Goczen et.al,
1984). The photolineament density maps were also successfully
applied in regional (Kibitlewski, 1985) as well as local
tectonic analysis (1982). Pixel level changes in active fault
areas were possible to detect by synthesis of satellite remote
S. Mukherjee & A. Mukherjee: Change in magnetic field: an early warning system to understand seismotectonics 141
Fig. 5. Location of the January 26th, 2001 earthquake triggered by an earth-directed CME.
sensing, geochemical analysis of soils in and around active
fault areas (Mukherjee, 2001, Makorov et.al, 1974, 1984, and
Lukina et.al, 1991).
Water level rose by 3 cm. a few hours before the earthquake
in Meckening, Australia (1968) at an epicentral distance
of 110 km. (Gordon, 1970). In India before the occurrence
of Jabalpur earthquake of 1997, water level fluctuation
was noticed. In China the upwelling and rise of level of water
wells has been observed before several other earthquakes (
Liu-quiano and Shanyin, 1979) including the Haichang earthquake
(1975.
An interesting instance of unusual behavior of dogs
Turkey (Toksoz, 1979)and fishes(Rikitake, 1976) has been
reported before the destructive earthquake on November 24,
1976 in. A correlation with the coronal mass ejection and
change in magnetopause and biogeosphere is attempted but
it will be acceptable after laboratory experiments can be carried
out on animals or the phenomena observed almost universally.
This information can be synthesized with the earth directed
coronal mass ejection data for socially useful earthquake
prediction through this ”Early warning system”.
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