New research has emerged showing that the level of activity transpiring on the Sun has a direct impact on the level of seismic activity that is experienced here on earth. And that’s not necessarily a good thing either. The Sun’s behavior has become rather erratic as of late, and seeing as how our planet revolves around it, well, chaos is in store.
NASA has determined that a total of 1.3 million earths could fit inside the Sun. In other words, just about every model you’ve seen that compares the size of the Earth to the Sun is not even close to being accurate. Earth is a speck of dust compared to that bright yellow behemoth we see in the sky on a daily basis.
And that’s why it has such a dramatic impact on our climate, including seismic activity. When there’s high solar activity, our temperatures go up, and when it’s low, they go down.
This isn’t anything new. We’ve known about this for a long time. Scientists from Japan have now discovered the connection between solar activity and seismic activity.
Sunspots, and therefore solar activity, cause seismic activity, according to a team led by computer scientist Matheus Henrique Junqueira Saldanha of the University of Tsukuba in Japan. Their new research reveals how.
“Solar heat drives atmospheric temperature changes, which in turn can affect things like rock properties and underground water movement,” Junquiera Saldanha says.
“Such fluctuations can make rocks more brittle and prone to fracturing, for example – and changes in rainfall and snowmelt can alter the pressure on tectonic plate boundaries. While these factors may not be the main drivers of earthquakes, they could still be playing a role that can help to predict seismic activity.”
That’s not to say that earthquakes only occur when solar activity is high. It can still happen even when its low. However, the numbers from Japan’s research shows a strong correlation between the temperatures on earth and seismic activity.
The research team analyzed earthquake data alongside solar activity records and surface temperatures on Earth using mathematical and computational methods. The team discovered that when they included Earth surface temperatures into their model, the forecasting became more accurate, especially for shallow earthquakes. Saldanha, a computer science PhD candidate at the University of Tsukuba, said: “That makes sense, since heat and water mostly affect the upper layers of the Earth’s crust.”
Our planet has been seeing a whole lot of seismic activity over the course of recent years, which has taken place at a time when the Sun has been particularly active.
Just last year PBS reported that the Sun “is now in its most active period in two decades.”
To most people, the sun is a steady, never-changing source of heat and light. But to scientists, it’s a dynamic star, constantly in flux, sending energy out into space. Experts say the sun is now in its most active period in two decades, causing potential disruptions to radio and satellite communications.
A year ago, in 2024, there was a “barrage of large solar flares and coronal mass ejections” that resulted in “the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years.”
During May 2024, a barrage of large solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) launched clouds of charged particles and magnetic fields toward Earth, creating the strongest geomagnetic storm at Earth in two decades — and possibly among the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years.
Many experts had been hoping the Sun would calm itself down a little this year, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. In fact, we’re still witnessing high levels of activity.
At the end of February, the Sun released an extremely powerful X2 class solar flare.
The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 2:27 p.m. EST on Feb. 23, 2025. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts. This flare is classified as an X2 class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.
And hot on the heels of this flare, California suffered a total of 7 significant earthquakes in a 24 hour period.
California has experienced seven earthquakes in less than 24 hours, with the latest striking Friday morning. The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected five quakes along the San Andreas fault that experts say is overdue for a magnitude 8.0 or higher, known as the ‘Big One.’ The initial event, a magnitude 2.7, hit Thursday off the coast of Northern California, followed by another magnitude 2.5 less than one hour later in the same region.
There have been a total of 814 total earthquakes across California and Nevada just in the last week, many of them noteworthy. One, a 3.9 on the scale, shook North Hollywood shortly following the Academy Awards.
Major earthquakes can have a devastating impact on places like California. They can cause massive tsunamis that crash into towns and cities located along the coast and completely obliterate them.
In other words, you should keep an eye on the sun — not literally — and an ear to the ground.
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