Earth & Space Weather

~Space Weather Update~ EMERGING SUNSPOTS

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Submitted by Lia on

JUPITER AND THE MOON: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look up. Jupiter and the gibbous Moon are only 5o apart--tight enough to fit inside the bowl of the Big Dipper. The bright conjunction is easy to see even from light-polluted cities. Take a look!

EMERGING SUNSPOTS: Over the weekend, active sunspots AR1967 and AR1968 rotated off the solar disk. However, the chance of flares has not decreased very much. Three new active regions have popped up to take their place:

The circled sunspots, AR1974 - AR1976, have 'beta-gamma' magnetic fields that harbor energy for medium-sized eruptions. And they are growing. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of M-class flares and a 5% chance of X-flares on Feb. 10th. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

Earthquake Report for 02/09/2014

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Submitted by Silver on

By: USGS

www.earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/

40 earthquakes

 

    3.7 112km ENE of Chirikof Island, Alaska 2014-02-09 12:18:17 UTC-08:00 11.8 km

    3.1 159km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico 2014-02-09 11:04:24 UTC-08:00 63.0 km

    2.5 47km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico 2014-02-09 10:50:25 UTC-08:00 34.0 km

    5.0 64km ENE of Orcopampa, Peru 2014-02-09 09:52:59 UTC-08:00 95.9 km

    4.6 56km NE of Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea 2014-02-09 07:39:47 UTC-08:00 64.8 km

    4.3 142km S of Masset, Canada 2014-02-09 07:37:07 UTC-08:00 14.5 km

    2.5 82km NNW of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2014-02-09 07:13:14 UTC-08:00 39.0 km

    5.8 123km WNW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea 2014-02-09 06:56:40 UTC-08:00 51.8 km

    2.5 36km N of Quinault Census Designated Place, Washington 2014-02-09 06:33:19 UTC-08:00 35.0 km

    4.9 27km SE of Shikotan, Russia 2014-02-09 05:34:31 UTC-08:00 87.9 km

    3.0 57km NNE of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2014-02-09 05:01:38 UTC-08:00 31.0 km

    4.6 61km ENE of Luwuk, Indonesia 2014-02-09 04:45:38 UTC-08:00 39.8 km

~Space Weather Update~ GOOD-BYE SUNSPOTS, HELLO RADIATION STORM?

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Submitted by Lia on

GOOD-BYE SUNSPOTS, HELLO RADIATION STORM?: Today, big sunspots AR1967 and AR1968 are rotating over the sun's western limb to begin a two-week transit of the sun's farside. Ironically, this could result in elevated levels of radiation near Earth. At their current location, the two sunspots are well-connected to our planet by the sun's spiraling magnetic field. Any flares today could funnel energetic particles in our direction, possibly triggering a radiation storm. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

MAGNETIC UNREST: Earth's magnetic field is still reverberating from the impact of a CME on Feb. 7th. Intermittent storming around the poles has produced bright auroras across Scandinavia, Iceland and Canada. Zoltan Kenwell sends this picture from Edmonton, Alberta:

"I was driving home when I noticed a dim green blob on the eastern horizon," says Kenwell. "I pulled off the highway for a better look and, to my surprise, I saw this corona dancing right above me.

Earthquake Report for 02/08/2014

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Submitted by Silver on

By: USGS

www.earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/

28 earthquakes

 

    6.0 Scotia Sea 2014-02-08 11:50:36 UTC-08:00 18.3 km

    2.6 55km NW of New Allakaket, Alaska 2014-02-08 10:33:15 UTC-08:00 0.0 km

    3.0 4km ESE of Hollywood, California 2014-02-08 10:13:08 UTC-08:00 8.4 km

    3.2 6km ENE of Covelo, California 2014-02-08 09:44:54 UTC-08:00 7.9 km

    2.8 89km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico 2014-02-08 09:21:23 UTC-08:00 33.0 km

    4.5 13km NNW of Lixourion, Greece 2014-02-08 09:12:53 UTC-08:00 53.8 km

    3.5 6km ESE of Santa Cruz de El Seibo, Dominican Republic 2014-02-08 07:22:38 UTC-08:00 136.0 km

    2.7 19km WSW of Delta, Mexico 2014-02-08 06:29:19 UTC-08:00 30.4 km

    2.8 66km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 2014-02-08 05:33:57 UTC-08:00 45.0 km

    4.6 108km E of Shikotan, Russia 2014-02-08 04:12:46 UTC-08:00 50.4 km

    3.2 125km NNW of Chirikof Island, Alaska 2014-02-08 01:14:49 UTC-08:00 24.5 km

    3.0 5km SE of Esperanza, Puerto Rico 2014-02-07 22:29:46 UTC-08:00 18.0 km

Great Lakes ice cover spreading rapidly; see which lake set a new record

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By: Mark Torregrossa, 02/06/2014

Ice continued to build this past week on the Great Lakes due to the cold air and temperatures staying below freezing, and Lake Superior's new record shows it. The lake is 92 percent frozen, toppling a 20-year-old record of 91 percent set on Feb. 5, 1994. That statistic helped total Great Lakes ice cover soar, and we can expect to see more form in coming days.

The air temperatures this past week averaged around five degrees below normal for the Great Lakes area. This amount of deviation from normal means it was a fairly cold week. As of February 5, 2014, the entire Great Lakes system is now reportedly covered 77 percent with ice, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

 

For more on this story visit www.mlive.com

~ Space Weather Update~ CME IMPACT SPARKS AURORAS, Declining Flares

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DECLINING CHANCE OF FLARES: Departing sunspots AR1967 and AR1968 are in a state of decay. Even so, both retain unstable magnetic fields that harbor energy for strong flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a declining but significant 60% chance of M-flares and a 20% chance of X-flares on Feb. 8th. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

CME IMPACT SPARKS AURORAS: A minor CME hit Earth's magnetic field on February 7th. The light show it produced was anything but minor. "BANG!" says Truls Tiller of Tromsø, Norway. "The sky exploded in auroras." In every direction he turned, he saw a scene like this:

"I could hardly decide which direction to point my camera," he says. "The sky was filled with light for more than four hours."

Earthquake Report for 02/07/2014

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Submitted by Silver on

By: USGS

www.earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/

33 earthquakes

 

    4.8 South of the Fiji Islands 2014-02-07 10:26:05 UTC-08:00 544.1 km

    5.1 34km ENE of Namie, Japan 2014-02-07 09:18:34 UTC-08:00 63.2 km

    4.2 9km NNW of Lixourion, Greece 2014-02-07 09:01:24 UTC-08:00 13.6 km

    5.0 142km NE of L'Esperance Rock, New Zealand 2014-02-07 08:56:38 UTC-08:00 7.1 km

    2.9 82km SW of Amukta Island, Alaska 2014-02-07 08:20:55 UTC-08:00 53.2 km

    2.8 20km S of Saint-Remi, Canada 2014-02-07 07:45:06 UTC-08:00 12.0 km

    2.5 69km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands 2014-02-07 06:25:30 UTC-08:00 32.0 km

    2.9 60km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 2014-02-07 05:37:48 UTC-08:00 41.0 km

    2.5 80km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico 2014-02-07 04:13:21 UTC-08:00 73.0 km

    3.0 61km ESE of Sutton-Alpine, Alaska 2014-02-07 04:11:04 UTC-08:00 5.7 km

    4.9 48km N of Namuac, Philippines 2014-02-07 04:04:38 UTC-08:00 35.0 km

    2.7 35km SW of Nikolski, Alaska 2014-02-07 02:06:47 UTC-08:00 24.7 km

~Space Weather Update~WEEKEND STORM WARNING~ Big Sunspots

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WEEKEND STORM WARNING: Polar geomagnetic storms are possible on Saturday, Feb. 8th, when a solar wind stream and a minor CME are expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. This will not be a major storm, but the double-impact could spark high-latitude auroras. Aurora alerts: text, voice

BIG SUNSPOTS: All week long, big sunspot AR1967 has has been crackling with activity, seemingly on the edge of producing an X-class solar flare. That hasn't happened. However, a new sunspot growing alongside AR1967 could push things over the edge. Emerging active region AR1968 has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for strong explosions. NOAA forecasters estimate an 60% chance of M-class solar flares and a 20% chance of X-class solar flares on Feb. 7th. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

Last night in Key West, Florida, Scott Wilson looked out over the Gulf of Mexico and saw the two big sunspots melting into the sea:

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