Transcription
When the sun unleashes a coronal mass ejection, a CME, and it impacts the Earth, it excites the magnetic field and triggers electromagnetic activity below, throughout the atmosphere. This video is from NASA, and the purpose of the video was meant to describe some of the ways that the sun drives the winds and the ocean currents. It does this by impacting the direct heating of the atmosphere and the electric currents of the global electric circuit.
But even NASA's video doesn't cover or even mention that this forcing extends to nearly every aspect of the weather. We have seen the hundreds of papers on how solar activity impacts wind, ocean activity, clouds, rain, lightning, snow, temperature, humidity, and so it should not be surprising that it also impacts the strongest storms in the world: the tropical systems, hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons. This was one of the key aspects of one of the articles we featured earlier today in the morning show.
The electrical phenomena of the atmosphere is gaining more and more attention. Where it was once thought to all be about temperature directing pressure in the air masses, scientists now know it is a much more dynamic process. For those who are new here, in chapter 5 of our textbook, there is a good deal of information about the sun's impact on major tropical storm systems and extratropical storms, for that matter.
There are studies that confirm this connection with solar flares, solar wind data, solar energy, energetic proton storms, and of course, geomagnetic storms from when the CMEs impact our planet. And as they discover this more and more, it extends to the extratropical regions and even severe thunderstorms over land. Many of you remember Ferris Wald, who won the National Science championship for proving that coronal hole streams and tropical cyclones were related, a pretty amazing feat for a middle school student.
And since our textbook came out, there have been several follow-up studies that only bolster the previously discovered connection between the sun and tropical systems. Ones like this have even suggested it's not just the formation and intensification of those storms, but their likely tracks to landfall that are impacted by the sun. Other studies dive deep into specific regions of the ocean and find all the same, while also driving into the mechanistic action of how it all works.
So this morning's paper, while exciting to see, was not unexpected. Indeed, there are no countervailing studies in the last several years questioning this connection. And yet, the sun's impact on storms remains outside of all climate models. It's a shame. But whether it is solar flare juicing up the atmosphere, the solar wind pressure forcing Vane and electrons downward, or the geomagnetic storm activity spreading across the globe, the global electric up and down circuit becomes excited. And as we discussed in a video just a few days ago, that electric circuit activity impacts the pressure cells, wind, clouds, and more.
Later this year, the sunspot cycle will be peaking as hurricane season rolls around in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific, and we will all get an excellent opportunity to see just how much the sun works these great storms in real time. I'll see you in the morning for The Daily Show. Be safe, everyone.