#coronal holes

NASA caught the sun literally smiling down on us : NPR

A Story of Solar Fury and Earth’s Shaking Skin

The sun is not quiet.

What looks from Earth like a steady golden orb is, in truth, a roaring tempest of magnetic force and heat, boiling and bursting on a scale that dwarfs everything we've ever built or broken. And right now, something ancient and violent is awake on its surface: the corona.

The sun’s corona—its outermost atmosphere—is a ghostly halo seen only during a solar eclipse or through special instruments. But it is no mere decoration. It is the seat of solar wind, the birthplace of charged particles hurled into space at hundreds of miles per second. When the sun exhales, Earth feels it. But not always the same way.

Lately, a dark gash has appeared in the sun’s rotating face—a coronal hole. These aren’t wounds, but windows: regions where the magnetic field opens up and allows solar particles to stream outward, unbridled. The corona in these areas thins, revealing a cooler, darker patch, and as the sun spins, that hole periodically points straight at Earth.

When that happens, the sun's wind intensifies, and it hits us like a pressure wave in space. Sometimes it brings shimmering auroras to the poles. Sometimes it disrupts satellites, power grids, or radio signals. But sometimes, it does something even stranger—something we’re only beginning to understand.

It reaches down and tugs on Earth’s bones.

Scientists have begun mapping the eerie timing between peaks in solar wind intensity and the timing of earthquakes in Earth's most unstable regions—its geological stress zones. The theory is not yet mainstream, but it's gaining attention. The sun may not cause earthquakes directly, but it may be the final straw that breaks the camel’s back. Like tapping a wineglass that's already on the verge of shattering.

Think of Earth’s crust as a network of massive tectonic plates, locked together by pressure and time. Along fault lines—from the Pacific Ring of Fire to the Himalayas—immense forces build up silently, waiting for release. Now picture a sudden spike in electromagnetic energy washing over the planet, altering ionospheric conditions, subtly shifting stress gradients in the lithosphere, maybe even changing the electrical properties of rock and magma deep below.

Solar winds, racing from that coronal hole, slam into Earth's magnetic shield. The magnetic field flexes. The atmosphere ripples. And beneath our feet, deep tension may find its breaking point.

Some weeks, it’s as if the sun's breath sucks the earthquakes right out of the ground.

There have been clusters of quakes—sharp and sudden—after periods of intensified solar activity. One day it’s quiet. The next, tectonic plates groan and slip. Maybe it's coincidence. Maybe it’s correlation. But the dance between solar fury and geological unrest is too consistent to ignore.

The sun turns slowly, dragging that coronal hole back into view every 27 days. With each pass, another breath of wind, another planetary reaction. A cycle of storm and silence that connects the sky to the stone.

At the same time, above the crust and beyond the clouds, Earth's weather systems aren't immune to the sun’s breath either. Those long, winding streams of moisture in the sky—what meteorologists now call atmospheric rivers—can be amplified when geomagnetic storms disturb the upper atmosphere. It's not just the ground that shakes, but the air that stirs. Solar energy can subtly shift jet streams and pressure zones, setting the stage for more intense storms—stronger hurricanes, more violent tornadoes, and explosive thunderstorms that seem to come out of nowhere. When Earth is already teetering from within, it doesn’t take much from above to tilt the balance.

And while we look up in awe at auroras painting the night sky, something deeper may be shifting below. The sun may be writing stories in rock—one pulse at a time.

Isaiah once warned of a "destroying storm" sent forth like a mighty flood, casting down the proud with power. That old prophecy feels near now. This summer—and the next—may carry winds and waters fierce enough to strip the land of its beauty. Especially here, where the hills meet the ocean and the trees burn too easily. It's more than just weather. It feels like something being torn down.

Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one,

which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm,

as a flood of mighty waters overflowing,

shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim,

shall be trodden under feet.” — Isaiah 28:2–3

Some say the house of Ephraim—once scattered, now settled—has taken root again, quietly, along the shining coasts of California and Florida. The wealthy among them may not know their lineage, but prophecy rarely waits for recognition.

Meta Description:

Coronal holes appear as dark areas in the solar corona in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft x-ray solar images. They appear dark because they are cooler, less dense regions than the surrounding plasma and are regions of open, unipolar magnetic fields. This open, magnetic field line structure allows the solar wind to escape more readily into space, resulting in streams of relatively fast solar wind and is often referred to as a high speed stream in the context of analysis of structures in interplanetary space.

Coronal holes can develop at any time and location on the Sun, but are more common and persistent during the years around solar minimum. The more persistent coronal holes can sometimes last through several solar rotations (27-day periods). Coronal holes are most prevalent and stable at the solar north and south poles; but these polar holes can grow and expand to lower solar latitudes. It is also possible for coronal holes to develop in isolation from the polar holes; or for an extension of a polar hole to split off and become an isolated structure. Persistent coronal holes are long-lasting sources for high speed solar wind streams. As the high speed stream interacts with the relatively slower ambient solar wind, a compression region forms, known as a co-rotating interaction region (CIR). From the perspective of a fixed observer in interplanetary space, the CIR will be seen to lead the coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS).

The CIR can result in particle density enhancement and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strength increases preceding onset of the CH HSS. As the CH HSS begins to arrive at Earth, solar wind speed and temperature increase, while particle density begins to decrease. After passage of the CIR and upon transition into the CH HSS flow, the overall IMF strength will normally begin to slowly weaken.

Sun’s coronal holes are about to release solar winds towards Earth: How will that affect us?- Technology News, Firstpost

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tech2 News StaffApr 10, 2020 09:16:47 IST

Solar winds, released by the Sun, might hit the Earth from 10 to 11 April. However, worry not, the Earth has its shield in place and the winds should not have any negative effects on the life on the planet.

This was reported by a space weather site, Spaceweather.com, after studying the data released from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

T…

Geomagnetic Storm Shift today,Northern Lights

Just alerting you to a geomagnetic shift 3-4 level shift because a Coronal Hole (56) located near midlatitude which happened August 23 is turning into an Earth facing position.

A solar wind stream flowing from this hole is reaching Earth and could possibly boost geomagnetic activity around our polar regions. There’s only a 35% chance of a major X class 4 geomagnetic disturbance. This not that…

#CoronalHoles, Sun, Storms | #S0 News Aug.26.2017

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