This essential reference for graduate students and researchers provides a unified treatment of earthquakes and faulting as two aspects of brittle tectonics at different timescales. The intimate connection between the two is manifested in their scaling laws and populations, which evolve from fracture growth and interactions between fractures. The connection between faults and the seismicity generated is governed by the rate and state dependent friction laws - producing distinctive seismic styles of faulting and a gamut of earthquake phenomena including aftershocks, afterslip, earthquake triggering, and slow slip events. The third edition of this classic treatise presents a wealth of new topics and new observations. These include slow earthquake phenomena; friction of phyllosilicates, and at high sliding velocities; fault structures; relative roles of strong and seismogenic versus weak and creeping faults; dynamic triggering of earthquakes; oceanic earthquakes; megathrust earthquakes in subduction zones; deep earthquakes; and new observations of earthquake precursory phenomena.

The Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting

The interplanetary energy flux is estimated on the basis of the Poynting flux and its variations with the rate of energy dissipation in terms of: (1) the ring-current particle injection, (2) Joule dissipation in the ionosphere, and (3) auroral particle injection for 15 major geomagnetic storms. A relationship, in terms of the angle between the interplanetary magnetic field vector and the magnetospheric field vector, is defined by which the growth of geomagnetic storms is closely associated with the Poynting flux. It is found that the energy flux that enters the magnetosphere is dissipated through intramagnetospheric substorm processes. Geomagnetic storm phenomena represent the combined influence of such effects.

A study of geomagnetic storms

 To this day, the prediction of space weather effects near the Earth suffers from a fundamental problem: The radial propagation speed of "halo" CMEs (ie CMEs pointed along the Sun-Earth-line that are known to be the main drivers of space weather disturbances) towards the Earth cannot be measured directly because of the unfavorable geometry From inspecting many limb CMEs observed by the LASCO coronagraphs on SOHO we found that there is usually a good correlation between the radial speed and the lateral expansion speed Vexp of CME clouds This latter quantity can also be determined for earthward-pointed halo CMEs Thus, Vexp may serve as a proxy for the otherwise inaccessible radial speed of halo CMEs We studied this connection using data from both ends: solar data and interplanetary data obtained near the Earth, for a period from January 1997 to 15 April 2001 The data were primarily provided by the LASCO coronagraphs, plus additional information from the EIT instrument on SOHO Solar wind data from the plasma instruments on the SOHO, ACE and Wind spacecraft were used to identify the arrivals of ICME signatures Here, we use "ICME" as a generic term for all CME effects in interplanetary space, thus comprising not only ejecta themselves but also shocks as well Among 181 front side or limb full or partial halo CMEs recorded by LASCO, on the one hand, and 187 ICME events registered near the Earth, on the other hand, we found 91 cases where CMEs were uniquely associated with ICME signatures in front of the Earth Eighty ICMEs were associated with a shock, and for 75 of them both the halo expansion speed Vexp and the travel time Ttr of the shock could be determined The function Ttr=203-2077*ln (Vexp) fits the data best This empirical formula can be used for predicting further ICME arrivals, with a 95% error margin of about one day Note, though, that in 15% of comparable cases, a full or partial halo CME does not cause any ICME signature at Earth at all; every fourth partial halo CME and every sixth limb halo CME does not hit the Earth (false alarms) Furthermore, every fifth transient shock or ICME or isolated geomagnetic storm is not caused by an identifiable partial or full halo CME on the front side (missing alarms)

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The association of coronal mass ejections with their effects near the Earth

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are plasma eruptions from the solar atmosphere involving previously closed field regions which are expelled into the interplanetary medium. Such regions, and the shocks which they may generate, have pronounced effects on cosmic ray densities both locally and at some distance away. These energetic particle effects can often be used to identify CMEs in the interplanetary medium, where they are usually called ‘ejecta’. When both the ejecta and shock effects are present the resulting cosmic ray event is called a ‘classical, two-step’ Forbush decrease. This paper will summarize the characteristics of CMEs, their effects on particles and the present understanding of the mechanisms involved which cause the particle effects. The role of CMEs in long term modulation will also be discussed.

Coronal mass ejections and forbush decreases

We present observational evidence that eruptions of quiescent filaments and associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) occur as a consequence of the destabilization of large-scale coronal arcades due to interactions between these structures and new and growing active regions. Both statistical and case studies have been carried out. In a case study of a 'bulge' observed by the High-Altitude Observatory Solar Maximum Mission coronagraph, the high-resolution magnetograms from the Big Bear Solar Observatory show newly emerging and rapidly changing flux in the magnetic fields that apparently underlie the bugle. For other case studies and in the statistical work the eruption of major quiescent filaments was taken as a proxy for CME eruption. We have found that two thirds of the quiescent-filament-associated CMEs occurred after substantial amounts of new magnetic flux emerged in the vicinity of the filament. In addition, in a study of all major quiescent filaments and active regions appearing in a 2-month period we found that 17 of the 22 filaments that were associated with new active regions erupted and 26 of the 31 filaments that were not associated with new flux did not erupt. In all cases in which the new flux was oriented favorably for reconnection with the preexisting large-scale coronal arcades; the filament was observed to erupt. The appearance of the new flux in the form of new active regions begins a few days before the eruption and typically is still occurring at the time of the eruption. A CME initiation scenario taking account of these observational results is proposed.

The initiation of coronal mass ejections by newly emerging magnetic flux

Solar flare induced interplanetary shock and helium enriched driver gas observed on 13 February 1967, discussing wind velocity and plasma acceleration

A. Alksne

Papers

Observation of a solar flare induced interplanetary shock and helium-enriched driver gas