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Magnetic Field Hole Could Cripple Communications

Scientists have found two large leaks in Earth's magnetosphere, the region around our planet that shields us from severe solar storms.

The leaks are defying many of scientists' previous ideas on how the interaction between Earth's magnetosphere and solar wind occurs: The leaks are in an unexpected location, let in solar particles in faster than expected and the whole interaction works in a manner that is completely the opposite of what scientists had thought.

The findings have implications for how solar storms affect the our planet. Serious storms, which involved charged particles spewing from the sun, can disable satellites and even disrupt power grids on Earth.

The new observations "overturn the way that we understand how the sun's magnetic field interacts with the Earth's magnetic field," said David Sibeck of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., during a press conference today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

The bottom line: When the next peak of solar activity comes, in about 4 years, electrical systems on Earth and satellites in space may be more vulnerable.

How it works

Earth's magnetic field carves out a cavity in the sun's onrushing field. The Earth's magnetosphere is thus "buffeted like a wind sock in gale force winds, fluttering back and forth in the" solar wind, Sibeck explained.

Both the sun's magnetic field and the Earth's magnetic field can be oriented northward or southward (Earth's magnetic field is often described as a giant bar magnet in space).

The sun's magnetic field shifts its orientation frequently, sometimes becoming aligned with the Earth, sometime becoming anti-aligned.

Scientists had thought that more solar particles entered Earth's magnetosphere when the sun's field was oriented southward (anti-aligned to the Earth's), but the opposite turned out to be the case, the new research shows.

The work was sponsored by NASA and the National Science Foundation and based on observations by NASA's THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) satellite.

How many and where

Essentially, the Earth's magnetic shield is at its strongest when scientists had thought it would be at its weakest.

When the fields aren't aligned, "the shield is up and very few particles come in," said physicist Jimmy Raeder of the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

Conversely, when the fields are aligned, it creates "a huge breach, and there's lots and lots of particles coming in," Raeder added, at the news conference.

As it orbited Earth, THEMIS's five spacecraft were able to estimate the thickness of the band of solar particles coming when the fields were aligned — it turned out to be about 20 times the number that got in when the fields were anti-aligned.

THEMIS was able to make these measurements as it moved through the band, with two spacecraft on different borders of the band; the band turned out to be one Earth radius thick, or about 4,000 miles (6,437 kilometers).

Measurements of the thickness taken later showed that the band was also rapidly growing.

"So this really changes our understanding of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling," said physicist Marit Oieroset of the University of California, Berkeley, also at the press conference.

And while the interaction of anti-aligned particles occurs at Earth's equator, those of aligned particles occur at higher latitudes both north and south of the equator.

The interaction is "appending blobs of plasma onto the Earth's magnetic field," which is an easy way to get the solar particles in, said Sibeck, a THEMIS project scientist.

Next solar cycle

This finding not only has implications for scientists' understanding of the interaction between the sun and Earth's magnetosphere, but for predicting the effects to Earth during the next peak in the solar cycle.

The Sun operates on an 11-year cycle, alternating between active and quiet periods. We are currently in a quiet period, with few sunspots on the sun's surface and fewer solar flares, though the next cycle of activity has begun.

It is expected to peak around 2012, bringing lots of sunspots, flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). CMEs can interact with the Earth's magnetosphere, causing problems for satellites, communications, and power grids.

This upcoming active period now looks like it will be more intense than the previous one, which peaked around 2006, some scientists think. The reason is the changes in the sun's alignment.

During the last peak, solar fields hitting the Earth were first anti-aligned then aligned. Anti-aligned fields can energize particles, but in this case, the energy came before the particles themselves, which doesn't create much of a fuss in terms of geomagnetic storms and disruptions.

But the next cycle will see aligned, then anti-aligned fields, in theory amplifying the effects of the storms as they hit.

Raeder likens the difference to igniting a gas stove one of two ways: In the first way, the gas is turned on and the stove is lit and you get a flame.

In the other way, you let the gas run for awhile, so that when you add the gas you get a much bigger boom.

"It should be that we're in for a tough time in the next 11 years," Sibeck said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,468268,00.html

A Giant Breach in Earth's Magnetic Field Dec. 16, 2008: NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics. "At first I didn't believe it," says THEMIS project scientist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This finding fundamentally alters our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction." The magnetosphere is a bubble of magnetism that surrounds Earth and protects us from solar wind. Exploring the bubble is a key goal of the THEMIS mission, launched in February 2007. The big discovery came on June 3, 2007, when the five probes serendipitously flew through the breach just as it was opening. Onboard sensors recorded a torrent of solar wind particles streaming into the magnetosphere, signaling an event of unexpected size and importance. Right: One of the THEMIS probes exploring the space around Earth, an artist's concept. "The opening was huge—four times wider than Earth itself," says Wenhui Li, a space physicist at the University of New Hampshire who has been analyzing the data. Li's colleague Jimmy Raeder, also of New Hampshire, says "1027 particles per second were flowing into the magnetosphere—that's a 1 followed by 27 zeros. This kind of influx is an order of magnitude greater than what we thought was possible." The event began with little warning when a gentle gust of solar wind delivered a bundle of magnetic fields from the Sun to Earth. Like an octopus wrapping its tentacles around a big clam, solar magnetic fields draped themselves around the magnetosphere and cracked it open. The cracking was accomplished by means of a process called "magnetic reconnection." High above Earth's poles, solar and terrestrial magnetic fields linked up (reconnected) to form conduits for solar wind. Conduits over the Arctic and Antarctic quickly expanded; within minutes they overlapped over Earth's equator to create the biggest magnetic breach ever recorded by Earth-orbiting spacecraft. The size of the breach took researchers by surprise. "We've seen things like this before," says Raeder, "but never on such a large scale. The entire day-side of the magnetosphere was open to the solar wind." The circumstances were even more surprising. Space physicists have long believed that holes in Earth's magnetosphere open only in response to solar magnetic fields that point south. The great breach of June 2007, however, opened in response to a solar magnetic field that pointed north. "To the lay person, this may sound like a quibble, but to a space physicist, it is almost seismic," says Sibeck. "When I tell my colleagues, most react with skepticism, as if I'm trying to convince them that the sun rises in the west." Here is why they can't believe their ears: The solar wind presses against Earth's magnetosphere almost directly above the equator where our planet's magnetic field points north. Suppose a bundle of solar magnetism comes along, and it points north, too. The two fields should reinforce one another, strengthening Earth's magnetic defenses and slamming the door shut on the solar wind. In the language of space physics, a north-pointing solar magnetic field is called a "northern IMF" and it is synonymous with shields up! "So, you can imagine our surprise when a northern IMF came along and shields went down instead," says Sibeck. "This completely overturns our understanding of things." Northern IMF events don't actually trigger geomagnetic storms, notes Raeder, but they do set the stage for storms by loading the magnetosphere with plasma. A loaded magnetosphere is primed for auroras, power outages, and other disturbances that can result when, say, a CME (coronal mass ejection) hits. The years ahead could be especially lively. Raeder explains: "We're entering Solar Cycle 24. For reasons not fully understood, CMEs in even-numbered solar cycles (like 24) tend to hit Earth with a leading edge that is magnetized north. Such a CME should open a breach and load the magnetosphere with plasma just before the storm gets underway. It's the perfect sequence for a really big event." Sibeck agrees. "This could result in stronger geomagnetic storms than we have seen in many years." A video version of this story may be found

here. For more information about the THEMIS mission, visit http://nasa.gov/themis

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/16dec_giantbreach.htm

Forget the economy: Killer asteroids could pose real danger

By Robert S. Boyd | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — A blue-ribbon panel of scientists is trying to determine the best way to detect and ward off any wandering space rocks that might be on a collision course with Earth.

"We're looking for the killer asteroid,'' James Heasley, of the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy, last week told the committee that the National Academy of Sciences created at Congress' request.

Congress asked the academy to conduct the study after astronomers were unable to eliminate an extremely slight chance that an asteroid called Apophis will slam into Earth with devastating effect in 2036.

Apophis was discovered in 2004 about 17 million miles from Earth on a course that would overlap our planet's orbit in 2029 and return seven years later. Observers said that the asteroid — a massive boulder left over from the birth of the solar system — is about 1,000 feet wide and weighs at least 50 million tons.

After further observations, astronomers reported that the asteroid would skim by Earth harmlessly in 2029, but it has a one in 44,000 probability of slamming into our planet on Easter Sunday, April 13, 2036.

Small changes in Apophis' path that could make the difference between a hit or a miss are possible, according to Jon Giorgini, a planetary analyst in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"We have not eliminated the threat in 2036,'' Lindley Johnson, the manager of NASA's asteroid detection program, told the committee.

The academy panel is headed by Irwin Shapiro, a former director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. It has a two-part assignment from Congress: Detect and deflect asteroids that might hit earth.

First, the Shapiro committee is supposed to propose the best way to detect and analyze 90 percent of the so-called "near Earth objects'' orbiting between Mars and Venus that are wider than 460 feet by 2020.

About 20 percent of these are identified as potentially hazardous objects because they might pass within 5 million miles of Earth (20 times the distance to the Moon).

More than 5,000 near Earth objects, including 789 potentially hazardous objects, have been identified so far. Johnson predicted that future surveys will find at least 66,000 near Earth objects and 18,000 potentially hazardous objects.

A collision with one or more of these many objects littering the solar system is inevitable, Johnson said. "Once every hundred years there might be something to worry about, but it could happen tomorrow.''

For example, astronomers had only 24 hours' notice of a small asteroid that blew up over northern Africa on Oct. 7. A larger, more dangerous object presumably would be spotted years or decades ahead, giving humans time to change its course before it hit.

The Shapiro panel's second task is to review various methods that have been proposed to deflect or destroy an incoming asteroid and recommend the best options. They include a nuclear bomb, conventional explosives or a spacecraft that would push or pull the asteroid off its course.

Offbeat ideas are painting the surface of the asteroid so that the sun's rays would heat it differently and alter its direction, and a ``gravity tractor, ''a satellite that would fly close to the asteroid, gently nudging it aside.

The earlier that a dangerous asteroid is found, and the farther it is from Earth, the easier it will be to change its trajectory, panel members were told. A relatively small force would be enough while the object is millions of miles away.

The year 2029 could be crucial. When Apophis makes its first pass by Earth, its track can be more precisely determined. That will enable astronomers to judge whether Earth will escape with a near miss or will have to take swift action to avoid a blow that could devastate a region as large as Europe or the Eastern United States.

To deflect an asteroid, scientists need to know its shape, weight and composition. A ball of loose rubble would be handled differently from a solid metallic rock.

"Finding them is one thing, but you have to know your enemy,'' said James Green, the director of NASA's Planetary Science Division.

So far, NASA has spent $41 million on asteroid detection and deflection, but the Near Earth Object Program is running out of money.

"It's just barely hanging on,'' Shapiro said.

Two expensive telescopes to focus on dangerous asteroids have been proposed, but Congress and the incoming Obama administration must be persuaded to approve the money.

"Without new telescopes, we'd never get to 90 percent (detection),'' Johnson said.

After a lot of original skepticism, Congress now looks favorably on the asteroid project, according to Richard Obermann, the staff director of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics.

"There used to be a high giggle factor among members,'' Obermann said. "But it's now a very respectable area of investigation.''

Johnson told the Shapiro committee that the search for killer asteroids must have a high priority.

"The space program could provide humanity few greater legacies than to know the time and place of any cosmic destruction to allow ample time to prepare our response to that inevitable event,'' he said.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/58025.html

World faces "total" financial meltdown: Bank of Spain chief

The governor of the Bank of Spain on Sunday issued a bleak assessment of the economic crisis, warning that the world faced a "total" financial meltdown unseen since the Great Depression.

"The lack of confidence is total," Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said in an interview with Spain's El Pais daily.

"The inter-bank (lending) market is not functioning and this is generating vicious cycles: consumers are not consuming, businessmen are not taking on workers, investors are not investing and the banks are not lending.

"There is an almost total paralysis from which no-one is escaping," he said, adding that any recovery -- pencilled in by optimists for the end of 2009 and the start of 2010 -- could be delayed if confidence is not restored.

Ordonez recognised that falling oil prices and lower taxes could kick-start a faster-than-anticipated recovery, but warned that a deepening cycle of falling consumer demand, rising unemployment and an ongoing lending squeeze could not be ruled out.

"This is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression" of 1929, he added.

Ordonez said the European Central Bank, of which he is a governing council member, would cut interest rates in January if inflation expectations went much below two percent.

"If, among other variables, we observe that inflation expectations go much below two percent, it's logical that we will lower rates."

Regarding the dire situation in the United States, Ordonez said he backed the decision by the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates almost to zero in the face of profound deflation fears.

Central banks are seeking to jumpstart movements on crucial interbank money markets that froze after the US market for high-risk, or subprime mortgages collapsed in mid 2007, and locked tighter after the US investment bank Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in mid September.

Interbank markets are a key link in the chain which provides credit to businesses and households.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

IMF chief warns 2009 may be 'even darker'
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Sunday that the economic situation could get even worse in 2009 if governments fail to take firm enough action.

"Our forecasts are already very dark but they will be even darker if not enough fiscal stimulus is implemented," Dominique Strauss-Kahn told BBC radio.

"We see 2009 as really being a bad year, with recession for most advanced economies and growth decreasing for emerging economies."

The IMF has called for global fiscal stimulus of about two percent of GDP, equivalent to some 1.2 trillion dollars.

He added that he feared recent initiatives, including that announced by the G20 in Washington last month, may not go far enough.

"I can see that some measures have been announced, but I'm afraid it won't go far enough," he said.

Strauss-Kahn said he understood Germany's "reluctant" attitude to the steps announced by some countries including Britain but added it would be best if all countries act together to "face the recession".

"I respect the traditional view of the Germans but nevertheless I think we are at a time when we should be a bit more imaginative than we have been in the past," the French former finance minister said.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081221160957.e5z1c9vr&show_article=1

Archbishop warns of dangers of economic dogma

LONDON (AFP) — Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams warned Monday that governments should not pursue dogmatic solutions to the financial crisis at the risk of the most vulnerable, saying that is what the Nazis did.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, he said Hitler's movement was based on a system of principles that "worked quite consistently once you accepted that quite a lot of people that you might have thought mattered as human beings actually didn't".

Williams, the most senior cleric in the Church of England, said that in the current climate, "what looked like a principled defence of some of our economic assumptions... seems more ragged and vulnerable than it once did".

He questioned the human costs of measures to tackle the downturn.

"What about the unique concerns and crises of the pensioner whose savings have disappeared, the Woolworth's (bankrupt store) employee, the hopeful young executive, let alone the helpless producer of goods in some Third-world environment where prices are determined thousands of miles away?" he asked.

Williams added: "How we all work is vastly complicated -- no one is pretending it isn't. But without these anxieties about the specific costs, we've lost the essential moral compass."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j6Rs-H23gCQ5Iu8h6AszRQX03FpA

High Street hits back as early sales spark Christmas spending spree - but 15 retail giants will still go bust next month

Britain's beleaguered High Street stores enjoyed one of their best weekends of the year as consumers spent more than £100million in just two days - but were warned up to 15 well-known High Street stores could still go bust next month.
Up to 140,000 shoppers packed out Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street in London's West End - a rise of almost 20 per cent compared to the same weekend last year.
Department store Selfridges said it was "one of the busiest weekends of the year", while John Lewis reported its London stores sold seven per cent more than this time last year.
But any glimmer of hope for retailers after a disastrous year was snubbed out by a dire warning of the economic turbulence facing Britain in the New Year.
Nick Hood, of insolvency experts Begbies Traynor, gave the gloomy picture. 'I would not be surprised if between ten and 15 national and regional chains collapsed before the middle of January,' he said.
He did not name any of the likely casualties, but they could include some of the best-known names on the High Street.
Up to 82 per cent of the 100 largest stores were holding sales or promotions at the weekend, a report, from the accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, found. A month ago, just 52 per cent were cutting prices.
Also, more and more retailers are ripping up the rule book and starting their sales on Christmas Eve.
A growing list of stores will start their sales up to 48 hours early. John Lewis, known as the bellwether of the High Street, will start its 'clearance' sale online at 6pm on Christmas Eve - the earliest it has ever begun.
That retailers are reducing prices so dramatically at what should be the height of the Christmas spend, gives some indication of the depth of panic. Andy Garbutt, a retail
partner at PWC, said: 'The level of discounting is completely unprecedented.
'The discounts are huge. Some of the chains need to generate cash due to quarterly rent day next week and so they can pay staff.'
Experts believe the recession Britain is facing could be long and painful. It has already started to claim casualties on the High Street.
Last week, the furniture chain MFI stopped trading with the loss of about 1,400 jobs.
The Woolworths chain, best known for its pick-and-mix sweets, has followed a similar fate with the loss of 27,000 jobs.

Woolworths was best known for its pick-and-mix sweets
All of its 807 stores will close by January 5, with the first to shut on December 27.
The closing-down sale will offer discounts of up to 60 per cent on more than 40million items such as DVDs, CDs and toys.
Discount chains are among the few winners. Poundland plans to create 1,200 jobs next year.
Experts are concerned that retailers are suffering so badly at what is likely to prove only the beginning of the financial downturn.
Nick Bubb, an analyst from the investment firm Pali International, said: 'The scale of the crisis will have an impact on consumer confidence.
'The sobering thing is that this downturn has only just begun. We have another two years of this.'
On a more positive note, figures released yesterday signalled that more shoppers are venturing out.
There were 7 per cent more in stores on Saturday than on the final Saturday before last Christmas, according to the National High Street Index, which counts shoppers visiting 'prime' High Streets in more than 50 town centres.
'The swathe of sales currently under way among retailers appears to be encouraging shoppers into our High Streets in ever greater numbers,' it said.
'But it does not monitor how much shoppers spend, or whether they are simply 'looking and leaving'.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1099344/High-Street-hits-early-sales-spark-Christmas-spending-spree--15-retail-giants-set-bust.html