Earth's Crust versus Flux Compression Events

[Temporocitor]

The question was posed to me on a survival board regarding whether the Earth's crust would provide sufficient shielding from a solar flare massive enough to generate a Flux Compression Event (FCE). I answered blatantly "No." I asked the simple question that if our own magnetic field about 1/50th that of Jupiter and about 1/500th that of the sun and we can read that non-compressed field at the surface, what makes anyone think the crust will shield them (in a bunker) from a compressed burst 500 times as strong.

 

The quantities are off the top of my head, so I won't feel offended if someone presents the actual figures. The point will still be the same. A compression event is a bit different from a normal CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) or solar flare. It is generated from a deeper internal event as opposed to the surface level prominance.

 

There's a new technology being developed at Harvard called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. They've had some success at modifying brain processes through mild, frequency modulated magnetic fields, so we know, same as for migraine sufferers, the sun's activity can affect our brains. I'm asking for opinons as to what extreme a massive burst could cause harm. This doesn't need to be limited to natural FCE's, but artificial events qualify for the discussion as well.

[John Cuthber]

What is a "Flux compression event"?

[Temporocitor]

A Flux Compression Event (FCE) is an event, artificial or natural, resulting from the sudden release of a contained burst of electromagnetically charged particles. In the sun these would be generated as very strong burst of plasma from within that expand from the core, then arrive at the chromosphere both fast enough and massive enough to be unable to escape through the surface's pores prior to being compressed. When they leave, they would be compressed, like a charge across a capacitor and, in our case, we would be bombarded with a wave of dense magnetic particles and protons.

 

This effect can be artificially generated by releasing a large charge into a coil that is constrained to a specific volume less than the total field area the released charge would need. The result is similar to that above.

[John Cuthber]

Any evidence that this might ever happen?

[Temporocitor]

There's more evidence that it actually has. The Carrington Event 0f 1859 was frying telegraph wires, the magnetic storm was so intense. It has happened often since, but one of the key indicator of magnetic compression are (get this) migraine headaches. Other neurological diseases are sometimes affected by the solar storms. To SOME degree this is taking place all the time in the sun. A sunspot is the aftermath of the flare or prominance. From inside the sun a bl;ast of plasma belches its way through the tachocline (I once called that the c layer for cryo) and, like a plasma globe, the burst of plasma hits the surface with the force of a hundred thousand nukes. Some compression is innevitable, but if the burst is large enough, and these do happen, the compression wave area is wider, so is the resultant compression wave.

 

http://www.space.com/12584-worst-solar-storms-sun-flares-history.html

 

There's a brief history of some of the worst events. I'll dig up some more on all this. Most of what I have is stored in some obscure nook of one of these machines, but I'll do a quick search today or tomorrow. I have a more extensive list someowhere. If I can find it, we'll be in business...

[vampares]

If it is just emf radiation, than any large mass will absorb those emf's. There are pictorial charts of how much radiation is received inside of various structures. The second story basement of a multi-story concrete building receives ~10% or less of the radiation received in a simple enclosure. It is unlikely a full shielding is possible beyond the point of detectability.

 

The difficult thing is conductive shielding, like speaker shielding or coaxial shielding. All I know about it is that multiple layers of material are more effective than a single massive shield. I'm not sure if it would be possible to reasonably (expense, material excess and complexity) shield from solar emf's.

Edited February 13, 2012 by vampares