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A joint analysis of solar wind, geomagnetic field, and earthquake catalog data showed that before the catastrophic M = 7.8 and M = 7.5 Kahramanmaras earthquake sequence on 6 February 2023, a closed strong magnetic storm occurred on 7 November 2022, SYM/H = −117 nT. The storm started at 08:04 UT. At this time, the high-latitudinal part of Turkey's longitudinal region of future epicenters was located under the polar cusp, where the solar wind plasma would directly access the Earth's environment. The time delay between storm onset and earthquake occurrence was ~91 days. We analyzed all seven strong (M7+) earthquakes from 1967 to 2020 to verify the initial findings. A similar pattern has been revealed for all events. The time delay between magnetic storm onset and earthquake occurrence varies from days to months. To continue these investigations, a retrospective analysis of seismic and other geophysical parameters just after preceded geomagnetic storms in the epicenter areas is desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In solar–terrestrial physics, there is an open question: does a geomagnetic storm affect earthquakes? We expand research in this direction, analyzing the seismic situation after geomagnetic storms (GMs) accompanied by the precipitation of relativistic electrons from the outer radiation belt to form an additional radiation belt (RB) around lower geomagnetic lines. We consider four widely discussed cases in the literature for long-lived (weeks, months) RBs due to GMs and revealed that the 1/GMs 24 March 1991 with a new RB at L~2.6 was followed by an M7.0 earthquake in Alaska, 30 May 1991, near footprint L = 2.69; the 2/GMs 29 October 2003 (Ap = 204) with new RB first in the slot region at L = 2–2.5 cases followed by an M7.8 earthquake on 17 November 2003 at the Aleutian Islands near footprint L = 2.1, and after forming an RB at L~1.5 which lasted for ~26 months, two mega quakes, M9.1 in 2004 and M8.6 in 2005, occurred at the globe; the 3/GMs 3 September 2012 with a new RB at L= 3.0–3.5 was followed by an M7.8 earthquake in Canada near footprint L = 3.2; and the 4/GMs 21 June 2015 with a new RB at L = 1.5–1.8 was followed by an M6.3 earthquake on 7 September 2015 in New Zealand, near footprint L = 1.58. The obtained results suggest that (1) major earthquakes occur near the footprints of geomagnetic lines filled with relativistic electrons precipitating from the outer radiation belt due to geomagnetic storms, and (2) the time delay between geomagnetic storm onset and earthquake occurrence may vary from several weeks to several months. The results may expand the framework for developing mathematical magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent paper, we extended a previous study on the solar solar influence to the generation of the March 2012 heatwave in the northeastern USA. In the present study we check the possible relationship of solar activity with the early March 2012 bad weather in northeast Thrace, Greece. To this end, we examined data from various remote sensing instrumentation monitoring the Sun (SDO satellite), Interplanetary space (ACE satellite), the Earth's magnetosphere (Earth-based measurements, NOAA-19 satellite), the top of the clouds (Terra and Aqua satellites), and the near ground atmosphere. Our comparative data analysis suggests that: (i) the winter-like weather (rainfall, fast winds, decreased temperature) in Thrace started on 6 March 2012, the same day as the heatwave started in USA, (ii) during the March 2012 winter-like event in Thrace (6–15 March), the ACE satellite recorded enhanced fluxes of solar energetic particles (SEPs), while SOHO and PAMELA recorded solar protons at very high energies (>500 MeV), (iii) Between 3–31 March, the temperature in Alexandoupoli and the ACE/EPAM solar high energy (1.88–4.70 MeV) proton flux were strongly anticorelated (r = −0.75, p = 0.5). (iv) Thrace experienced particularly intense cyclonic circulation, during periods of magnetic storms on 8–10 and 12–13 March, which occurred after the arrival at ACE of two interplanetary shock waves, on March 8 and March 11, respectively, (v) at the beginning of the two above mentioned periods large atmospheric electric fields were recorded, with values ranging between ~−2000 V/m and ~1800 V/m on 8 March, (vi) the winter-like weather on 8–10 March 2012 occurred after the detection of the main SEP event related with a coronal mass ejection released in interplanetary space as a result of intense solar flare activity observed by SDO on 7 March 2012, (vi) the 8–10 March weather was related with a deep drop of ~63 °C in the cloud top temperature measured by MODIS/Terra, which favors strong precipitation. Finally, we analyzed data from the electric power network in Thrace (~41°N) and we found, for the first time sudden voltage changes of ~3.5 kV in the electric grid in Greece, during the decay phase of the March 2012 storm series. We discuss the winter-like March 2012 event in Thrace regarding the influence of solar cosmic rays on the low troposphere mediated by positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Finally, we infer that the novel finding of the geomagnetic effects on the electric power grid in Thrace may open a new window into space weather applications research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]