Aurora Borealis hits a 100-year low point – sun blamed

Living in Scotland, it ought to be possible occasionally to see the northern lights. Strangely the only time I’ve seen them was when I visited Scotland in the 1980s and since I moved here permanently over a decade ago I’ve never seen them (despite having a telescope and being out on those starry nights when it ought to be possible!)

Does “sun sports” in the last line include beach volleyball? Shame.

What??? Are you telling me there is something called “natural cycles” ????
Who has ever said there are no such things as “natural cycles”? Of course there are, which is why even when there is a strong long term warming trend there can be shorter periods within that where temperatures will flatten or even fall slightly. This is exactly what some us have been trying to explain to people who say things like “it hasn’t warmed since 1998”.

Leif
Does one of your graphs at
http://www.leif.org/research/TSI-SORCE-2008-now.png
show the Aurora variation, directly/indirectly? Is there a regularly updated graph that shows this variation?
Seems such a graph would best show some actual impact/variability of whatever solar ‘x’ over time.

andrew adams
Ok, so how many of these natural cycles show up in the temperature projections? None. How can they claim that the models are accurate if they can’t model these natural cycles?
Nuff said!
MikeEE

Chris Knight says:
September 29, 2010 at 4:03 am
Does “sun sports” in the last line include beach volleyball? Shame.
It most certainly does! All that extra Co2 from vigorous exercise causes global waffling! Sorry that should be warming, I think?
andrew adams says:
September 29, 2010 at 5:26 am
What??? Are you telling me there is something called “natural cycles” ????
Who has ever said there are no such things as “natural cycles”? Of course there are, which is why even when there is a strong long term warming trend there can be shorter periods within that where temperatures will flatten or even fall slightly. This is exactly what some us have been trying to explain to people who say things like “it hasn’t warmed since 1998″.
That’s precisely why it is called Climate Change, it’s the perfect heads I win tails you lose version of Global Warming. If the climate system warms, it’s Climate Change. If the climate system cools, it’s Climate Change! Simples! One cannot have one’s cake & eat it you know, it’s just not cricket old boy! From what I can see in the ice-core data this so called “long-term warming trend” is nothing of the kind, & in fact the Earth has been in an even longer-term cooling trend for around 10,000 years rather as it did in at least the last 4 inter-glacials! Even the mighty Phil Jones has (not so) openly confessed to the BBC’s Roger Harrabin that there has been no statistically significant warming since 1995, (let alone 1998!) That’s 15 years as opposed to 12 years. I am certainly not looking forward to the next load of global warming this winter, if it’s anything like the last two in the UK. I await the Wet Office’s seasonal forecast with baited breath!

So with the death of sunspots in 2015 we can look forward to a long time of Aurora Bore It All Of Us. (Actually, I have an inside tip from Al Gorge that it is really CO2 that is heating the colors so that they melt.)

Maybe we passed the CO2 threshold, the point of no return. :p

vukcevic says:
September 29, 2010 at 3:26 am
That graph is a Sun’s electrocardiogram: It’s in the ER!
But, tell me, if devoid from any outside interferences, the sun’s polar fields graph, would not look as an harmonic alternate current graph?

I kept telling my wife that the chances we would see a good Aurora in NE Oregon were good. Nothing yet, but hopefully we can get a fair CME .She’s spent time in the Yukon,
during the summer but has never seen a Aurora display. I’ve been on top of the Wallowa
mountains back in the 70’s amid a huge display. Amazing…

As was pointed out by a wit elsewhere, this is all down to these wind farms as the giant fans keep blowing the solar wind off course…

Leif
Thanks for response and links above.
Tried to ask a question also, but didn’t do very well I guess.
If you have a second, which graph/link best captures and shows the variation of solar activity that we see reflected via the aurora?
For Example: How close does anyone of the graphs on your website at do this?
http://www.leif.org/research/TSI-SORCE-2008-now.png
If none, where might there be a long term graph of this variation displayed in the aurora? (If one exists.)
Thanks again.

Hello Leif,
Slightly off topic but I read that during the recent period of active sun the mesosphere was cooling.
So at that time we had a warming troposphere and thermosphere but a cooling stratosphere and mesosphere.
But I seem to recall that you said that all the layers of the atmosphere warm or cool in tandem depending on whether the sun is active or inactive.
Please could you clarify ?

Jabba the Cat says:
September 29, 2010 at 7:43 am
Don Antonio, The Quixote of WUWT will fix it!

Anthony, as an “AGW proponent” ( actually, I would say I recognize humans are causing global warming by CO2 emissions, and Bush and Luntz can keep the term THEY pushed, Climate Change, I’m sticking with global warming) I want to know what evidence do you cite to substantiate your assertion regarding the Sun-Earth system? If , as frequently asserted, the proven rising global temperature is caused by the sun (Skeptical Science has that argument listed as the most frequent used by deniers), and solar activity has been freakishly low since falling from 2003 to the Minimum, not much changed since 2008, why is 2010 the hottest year recorded ever, in the hottest decade ever, with the least volume of Arctic ice ever? Are you making a prediction that can be tested, the way Dr. Hansen made a prediction in 1988, that was proven quite right? Just when can we expect to see it cooler?

I’ll bet the left will blame Bush for this too. 😉

Roaring Borealis…
jus sayin…

Thanes says:
September 29, 2010 at 9:12 am
“Bush and Luntz can keep the term THEY pushed, Climate Change”
http://www.ipccfacts.org/history.html
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by two United Nations Organizations, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme to assess “the scientific, technical and socioeconomic information relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change.” Review by experts and governments is an essential part of the IPCC process. For its first task, the IPCC was asked to prepare, based on available scientific information, a report on all aspects relevant to climate change and its impacts and to formulate realistic response strategies.”
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established in 1988 – Seems the United Nations pushed THAT term first.

Has the patience of AGW proponents been overtaken? Sun-Earth systems often respond on timescales longer than the human experience. Stop watching CNN and watch the skies instead, you’ll get a better appreciation for time -Anthony
GeoFlynx – Are you implying that the solar minimum’s effect on global temperatures will not manifest itself for another 70 years. Trolls don’t live that long!

Isn’t Svalbard too far north to see the aurora every night? The auroral oval is 65-70 degrees geomagnetic latitude, and Svalbard is about 75. I would not expect to see much at Svalbard without some significant magnetic activity to displace the auroral zone north and south. Around North Cape you will probably get it most clear nights however quiet the sun.

Chris Clark says September 29, 2010 at 12:38 pm
http://kho.unis.no/

Mike Haseler,
Here’s a link to an image of late July/early August auroral activity captured I believe from around the Clackmannanshire/Stirlingshire border area. I didn’t see much at the time either that looked definite – it was only later when I saw this image and others that reasonably suggest I did get a positive ID (well – I’m sticking to it!)
Not the best aurora pic ever but proof of what was there:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-10891665 (image 11 of 16)

“The Exploration of the Earth’s Magnetosphere” An educational web site by David P. Stern and Mauricio Peredo, sponsored by NASA.
Electric Currents from Space
http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/wcurrent.html
“When a bright aurora is seen in the auroral zone, a strong magnetic disturbance is usually also observed there…The Norwegian Kristian Birkeland, who carefully observed auroral disturbances around the turn of the century, concluded that those currents flowed parallel to the ground, along the auroral formation…Any electric current, however, must flow in a closed circuit, and since it seemed to be caused (like that of the aurora) by processes taking place in distant space, Birkeland proposed that it came down from space at one end of the arc and returned to space at the other end.”
Electro-Magnetic Induction
“Note: The original version of “Exploration of the Earth’s Magnetosphere” tried to simplify the presentation by leaving out any discussion of electric fields. Still, electric forces and electric fields play a great role in magnetospheric processes, and as details were added, it became increasingly hard to avoid them.”
“Electric and Magnetic Forces together
The electric force modifies the motion. Protons are accelerated in the +y direction, so they move a bit faster on the part of their circle closer to the top of the page (see drawing above!).”
http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/wdrift.html
Science@NASA
Magnetic Portals Connect Earth to the Sun
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/30oct_ftes/
“During the time it takes you to read this article, something will happen high overhead that until recently many scientists didn’t believe in. A magnetic portal will open, linking Earth to the sun 93 million miles away. Tons of high-energy particles [electrons & ions] may flow through the opening before it closes again, around the time you reach the end of the page.”
“Indeed, today Sibeck is telling an international assembly of space physicists at the 2008 Plasma Workshop in Huntsville, Alabama, that FTEs are not just common, but possibly twice as common as anyone had ever imagined.”
Science@NASA
NASA Spacecraft Make New Discoveries about Northern Lights
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2007/11dec_themis/
NASA’s fleet of THEMIS spacecraft, launched less than 8 months ago, has made three important discoveries about spectacular eruptions of Northern Lights called “substorms” and the source of their power. The discoveries include giant magnetic ropes that connect Earth’s upper atmosphere to the Sun and explosions in the outskirts of Earth’s magnetic field.”
“Even more impressive was the substorm’s power. Angelopoulos estimates the total energy of the two-hour event at five hundred thousand billion (5 x 1014) Joules. That’s approximately equivalent to the energy of a magnitude 5.5 earthquake.”
Likely, the decrease in auroral storms (the northern lights) is connected to the decrease in the strength of the Sun’s magnetic field.
Electomagnetism is involved in the processes that determine the amount and intensity of auroral storms.

Joe Lalonde – name the study. Just bitching about it doesn’t help.

James F. Evans says:
September 29, 2010 at 4:31 pm
~~~~
Thanks, some of my favorites in that lot.
But this one is of great interest tooo…
“Sun Often “Tears Out A Wall” In Earth’s Solar Storm Shield”
..Based on these results, we expect more severe storms during the upcoming solar cycle,” said Vassilis Angelopoulos of the University of California, Los Angeles, Principal Investigator for NASA’s THEMIS mission (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms). THEMIS was used to discover the size of the leak.
.. “Twenty times more solar particles cross the Earth’s leaky magnetic shield when the sun’s magnetic field is aligned with that of the Earth compared to when the two magnetic fields are oppositely directed,” said Marit Oieroset of the University of California, Berkeley, lead author of one of two papers on this research, published May 2008 in Geophysical Research Letters.
..While the THEMIS researchers discovered the size of the leak, they didn’t know its location(s). This was discovered by Wenhui Li of the University of New Hampshire, Durham, N.H., and his team. They used a computer simulation to discover where two holes frequently develop in Earth’s magnetic field, one at high latitude over the Northern hemisphere, and one at high latitude over the Southern hemisphere. The holes form over the daylit side of Earth, on the side of the magnetic shield facing the sun.
The simulation also showed how the leaks develop. As solar particles flow out from the sun, they carry solar magnetic fields past our planet. Li’s team realized that the solar magnetic field drapes against Earth’s field as it passes by. Even though the two fields point in the same direction at equatorial latitudes, they point in opposite directions at high latitudes, When compression forces the opposite fields together, they link up with each other in a process called magnetic reconnection. This process tears the two holes in Earth’s magnetic field and appends the section of the solar field between the two holes to Earth’s field, carrying the solar particles on this section into the magnetosphere, according to Li’s team. “We’ve found if the door is closed, the sun tears down a wall. The crack is huge – about four times wider than Earth and more then seven Earth diameters long,” said Li, whose paper will be published in an upcoming article of the Journal of Geophysical Research.
Solar particles by themselves don’t cause severe space weather, but they get energized when the solar magnetic field becomes oppositely-directed to Earth’s and reconnects in a different way
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/news/themis_leaky_shield.html
This dayside reconnection and double layers is getting interesting. So many energetic particle layers surrounding the planet, spinning around. jeeps
Is it 3-4 or 4-5 daily reconnection events ? Either way continuous particle injection sometimes more and sometimes less. Either way continuous particle injection..

Ref – Leif Svalgaard says:
September 29, 2010 at 9:30 pm
James F. Evans says:
September 29, 2010 at 4:31 pm
“Electomagnetism is involved in the processes that determine the amount and intensity of auroral storms.”
‘”It is generally accepted by all scientists that aurorae are the effects of electric currents generated by neutral plasma moving across a magnetic field.'”
____________________
Leif
?”Solar Wind”?
The stronger and denser the Solar Wind, the bigger the aurorae (farther South it moves, the brighter it is)?

Compare the following two descriptions:
Dr. Svalgaard wrote: “Whenever there is a boundary in space between different plasma regimes an electric current can be generated simply by gyration of charges around field lines.”
Electric Double Layer per Wikipedia:
“In general, double layers (which may be curved rather than flat) separate regions of plasma with quite different characteristics.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_layer_(plasma)
Sure sounds like Dr. Svalgaard and Wikipedia are describing the same physical process.

Dr. Svalgaard presented Evans’ statement: “So-called “magnetic reconnection”, as a concept developed in the pre-space age 1940′s (1946), only considered the one physical force then observable from Earth’s surface: Magnetic fields.”
And, Dr. Svalgaard responded: “This is incorrect. All modern descriptions of magnetic reconnection deal with the total set of forces, magnetic, electric, and kinetic.”
No, the statement is correct, as it addresses the initial development of the concept (1946).
But I do agree that, today, “modern descriptions of [so-called] magnetic reconnection deal with the total set of forces, magnetic, electric, and kinetic.”
Or, as I already put it: “This electromagnetic framework requires observation & measurement of the magnetic field, electric field, charged particle location, direction, and velocity & location of charged particle acceleration (an increase in kinetic energy of the charged particles).”
Dr. Svalgaard wrote: “The latest in situ observations of all relevant parameters fully confirm our theoretical understanding of the universal process that is magnetic reconnection.”
How can that be when even supporters of “magnetic reconnection” acknowledge the process is not fully understood, much less fully quantified by mathematical equations?
Dr. Svalgaard wrote: “Double layers have nothing to do with any of this…”
The following scientific papers stand for the proposition that so-called “magnetic reconnection” is actually the Electric Double Layer process.
(Note both Double Layer papers describe the process as it happens in the aurora.)
Scientific papers presented:
Filamentary Structures in U-Shaped Double Layers, 2005
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2005AGUFMSM41C1202D&db_key=AST&data_type=HTML&format=&high=42ca922c9c05019
Quote from the above paper:
“Observations from the Polar and FAST satellites have revealed a host of intriguing features of the auroral accelerations processes in the upward current region (UCR). These features include: (i) large-amplitude parallel and perpendicular fluctuating as well as quasi-static electric fields in density cavities, (ii) fairly large-amplitude unipolar parallel electric fields like in a strong double layer (DL), (iii) variety of wave modes, (iv) counter-streaming of upward going ion beams and downward accelerated electrons, (v) horizontally corrugated bottom region of the potential structures (PS), in which electron and ion accelerations occur, (vi) filamentary ion beams in the corrugated PS, and (vii) both upward and downward moving narrow regions of parallel electric fields, inferred from the frequency drifts of the auroral kilometric radiations.”
Parallel electric fields in the upward current region of the aurora: Indirect and direct observations, published 2002 Physics of Plasma
http://www.space.irfu.se/exjobb/2003_erik_bergman/articles/PHP03685_ergun.pdf
Quote from the above paper:
“In this article we present electric field, magnetic field, and charged particle observations from the upward current region of the aurora focusing on the structure of electric fields at the boundary between the auroral cavity and the ionosphere…These observations suggest that the parallel electric fields at the
boundary between the auroral cavity and the ionosphere are self-consistently supported as oblique double layers.”
Now, let’s compare the above Electric Double Layers papers with the following so-called “magnetic reconnection” scientific papers:
Magnetopause reconnection impact parameters from multiple spacecraft magnetic field measurements published 30 October 2009
http://www.leif.org/EOS/2009GL040228.pdf
Quote from the above paper:
“Discrepancies between the measured components of E [electric field] and the corresponding components of v  B [magnetic field] after a careful error analysis signify a nonideal electric field. We intend to show in a subsequent paper that the Cluster electric field and particle flow data for this event satisfy the criteria for a parallel electric field…
With the instantaneous coordinate system and the parallel electric field established, one can place particle moments, such as velocities, pressures, and temperatures, as well as magnetic and electric field measurements…
Sufficiently accurate ion and electron moments and electric field measurements within this coordinate system delineate ion and electron diffusion regions.”
Recent in-situ observations of magnetic reconnection in near-Earth space, published 11 October 2008
http://www.leif.org/EOS/2008GL035297.pdf
Quote from the above paper:
Figure 1. “(bottom [schematic, page 2 of 7] ) : “Zoom-in on the region around the X-line, with the ion and electron diffusion regions indicated by the shading and the rectangular box, respectively. The quadrupolar Hall magnetic field is pointing in and out of the plane of the figure. The Hall electric field [perpendicular electric field] is shown by the red arrows, while the blue arrows mark the oppositely directed jets in the outflow regions. Note that entry and acceleration occur all the way along the current sheet. Figure courtesy of Marit Oieroset.”
The “X” cross section discussed in these “magnetic reconnection” papers are where electric and magnetic fields cross, just as Hannes Alfven described in his empirical laboratory work on Electric Double Layers and, is central to the acceleration of the particles in both sets of papers, Electric Double Layers and “magnetic reconnection”, respectively.
Collisionless Magnetic Field Reconnection From First Principles: What It Can and Cannot Do
http://solarmuri.ssl.berkeley.edu/~welsch/brian/FSL/2006/mozer_reconn_v4.pdf
Quote from the above paper:
“The physics of reconnection [Electric Double Layer] depends on the electric field component out of the plane of Fig. 1 at the center of the figure, which is sometimes called the tangential electric field.
If it is zero [the Electric field], the two plasmas flow around each other into or out of the plane of the figure because there is no ExB/B2 flow in the plane of the figure in this central region.
On the other hand, if the tangential electric field is non-zero, the plasmas continue flowing towards each other into the central region of the figure and magnetic field reconnection occurs as discussed below.”
Now, I’ve requested Dr.Svalgaard to distinguish the physical dynamics in the two sets of scientific papers numerous times by referring to the specific physical parameters described in the two sets of papers, but Dr. Svalgaard never has honored the request.
Why?
The reason is simple: There is nothing to distinguish between the two described processes, as they are the same process, just given different labels.
But given the Electric Double Layer is fully quantified by mathematical equations, plugging in all the physical parameters, and has been repeatedly verified in plasma laboratories and in situ (the two scientific papers presented above), as compared against “magnetic reconnection”, which isn’t even fully understood by its supporters by their own admission, the conclusion is clear as to the physical reality.
A rose is still a rose by any other name.

Leif Svalgaard says:
September 30, 2010 at 6:59 am
Such structures in interstellar space have, of course, no effect whatsoever on the inner solar system where we live.
~
Yep thanks Leif.. but some of this is beginning to sound like a disclaimer lol.
To: James Evans..
based on the description of the the radiation belts here:
http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/tour/vanallen.html
There are two electron belts and one proton belt:
The proton belt is located from about 500 kilometers above Earth’s surface and extends to 13,000 km. This Inner Belt contains protons with energies greater then 10 million volts. Scientists currently think that these protons are trapped cosmic ray particles from outside the solar system, or from the Sun itself possibly during severe solar flares.
The low-energy electron belt actually overlaps the volums of space occupied by the proton belt. The electrons carry between 1 – 5 million volts of energy, on average.
The high-energy electron belt is located further out than the two overlaping inner belts, and in the above figure it is colored purple. Electrons in this Outer Belt carry between 10 to 100 million volts of energy, on average.
~~
Do we call this a triple electic layer or what?

Leif, James, Carla,
A slight sidestep but climatically relevant:
With all this talk about layers and solar effects on the atmosphere especially around the poles and given that much seems not to be understood (fully or not) what is the scope for the level of solar activity having differential effects on the layers of the atmosphere and the flow of energy up through those layers so as to reverse the sign of the stratospheric temperature response to solar activity such that the stratosphere (and apparently also the mesosphere) are observed to cool when the sun is more active yet the troposphere and thermosphere are observed to warm at such times ?
As I understood it all the layers should warm or cool in tandem as solar activity increases or falls but that does not appear to happen.
I am looking for some sort of explanation as to why the jet streams appear to move equatorward when the sun is less active and poleward when the sun is more active. Clearly that phenomenon if real would be linked to the strength of the polar oscillations which is presumably governed by events in the atmosphere above the poles which is the very place where your discussed processes have maximum effect.
Only if the sign of the solar effect on the stratospheric temperatures is reversed from what is generally assumed can we explain why the jet streams would shift poleward when the sun is more active. Such a shift requires a cooling stratosphere because the jets would only move poleward in response to a decreased strength of the temperature inversion at the tropopause.
If conventional wisdom were correct then the stratosphere would warm when the sun is more active, the strength of the inversion would increase and the jets would shift equatorward at a time of more active sun.
That appears not to happen.
Why ?

Stephen Wilde says:
September 30, 2010 at 3:30 pm
The problem is…how do relate: Gravity, magnetism, electricity?
One hour time to solve it!….or One thousand years?
When charges are at =45° and 135°, i.e. when they add as sin y + cos y ,
as +0.77 and -0.77
Its resultant is 50% gravity and 50% emission field, i.e.magnetism
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38418051/Unified-Field

James F. Evans says:
September 30, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Carla: I think you are being facetious 🙂
~~
Comes down to time James. Yesterday was home on break, read what was up here, no time to go through everything, but tripped on this from the wiki link you had left here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_layer_(plasma)
History of double layers
..A recent development in double layer experiments is the investigation of so-called stairstep double layers. It has been observed that a potential drop in a plasma column can be split up into different parts. Transitions from a single double layer into two-, three-, or greater-step double layers are strongly sensitive to the boundary conditions of the plasma (Hershkowitz, 1992).[citation needed] These experiments can give us information about the formation of the magnetospheric double layers and their possible role in creating the aurora..
Stephen Wilde says:
September 30, 2010 at 3:30 pm
~
My search for some of those answers lead me to some interesting articles. Here’s one, that will start drawing an interesting picture for you.
Tropical thunderstorms affect space weather
Two plasma bands encircle the Earth some 250 miles above the equator, seen here in a false-color composite image built up from 30 days of ultraviolet observations with NASA’s IMAGE satellite. Bright, blue-white areas are where the plasma is densest
..Data from NASA’s Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) satellite show that two parallel bands of ionized particles that encircle the Earth in the tropics are altered by persistent storms over the Amazon Basin in South America, the Congo Basin in Africa, and Indonesia. The net effect of these repeated storms is to create a denser region of ionospheric plasma over these areas that glows more brightly in ultraviolet light than does the rest of the two plasma bands.
..The densest part of the ionosphere forms two bands of plasma close to the equator at a height of almost 250 miles.
..The simulation showed that the tides could affect the plasma bands indirectly by modifying a layer of the atmosphere below the bands that shape them. Below the plasma bands, a layer of the ionosphere called the E-layer becomes partially electrified during the day. This region creates the plasma bands above it when high-altitude winds blow plasma in the E-layer across the Earth’s magnetic field. Since plasma is electrically charged, its motion across the Earth’s magnetic field acts like a generator, creating an electric field. This electric field shapes the plasma above into the two bands.
Anything that would change the motion of the E-layer plasma would also change the electric fields it generates, which would then reshape the plasma bands above.
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/09/14_weather.shtml
(following ref. compliments wiki)
The equatorial electrojet (EEJ) is a narrow ribbon of current flowing eastward in the day time equatorial region of the Earth’s ionosphere. The abnormally large amplitude of variations in the horizontal components measured at equatorial geomagnetic observatories, as a result of EEJ, was noticed as early as 1920 from Huancayo geomagnetic observatory. Observations by radar, rockets, satellites, and geomagnetic observatories are used to study EEJ
Causes
The worldwide solar-driven wind results in the so-called Sq (solar quiet) current system in the E region of the Earth’s ionosphere (100–130 km altitude). Resulting from this current is an electrostatic field directed east-west (dawn-dusk) in the equatorial day side of the ionosphere. At the magnetic dip equator, where the geomagnetic field is horizontal, this electric field results in an enhanced eastward current flow within ±3 degrees of the magnetic equator, known as the equatorial electrojet (EEJ)..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_electrojet
Youtube video of Equatorial electrojet.
Magnetic fields due to equatorial electrojet

Interesting and thought provoking for the layperson are the next two:
Lighting Up The Van Allen Belts
Stanford – December 6, 1999 –
Lighting Up The Van Allen Belts
..The new finding indicates that electromagnetic waves from lightning populate large regions of the radiation belts from which they precipitate electrons, which means they could potentially influence loss rates of trapped particles on a global scale.
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/earth-magnetic-99d.html
Stanford – December 6, 1999 –
~
We should be looking more closely at “DAYSIDE RECONNECTION.” They say that’s where all the fun is. The nightside reconnection ooooh pretty aurora, but the dayside..
Hope some of this helps Stephen.

Leif –
Ref – your graph at
http://www.leif.org/research/Solar-Wind-Flow-Pressure.png
Ref -Leif Svalgaard says:
September 30, 2010 at 8:20 am
“Yes: The neutral plasma is the solar wind. The magnetic field is the Earth’s. So, yes, the solar wind does it. In addition to that, the solar wind has its own magnetic field, which if oriented opposite to the Earth’s field [where they meet] serves to further improve the energy input to the Earth system.”
__________
Your graph (above, 1st ref) for solar wind pretty much reflects the aurora’s decline does it not? Is there something else that the solar wind graph does not reflect vis-a-vis aurora decline?

Leif
Thanks! Guess I saw it when the seeing was good;-)