The atmosphere of Earth doesn’t turn into the boiling ocean of fire during emergence of powerful flashes in the Sun thanks to the special mechanism which forces its upper layers to dump huge amounts of heat in an outer space.
“We found out that the bystry flows of plasma which are thrown out by the Sun and generating shock waves in the atmosphere of Earth force it to heat up and extend. On the other hand, the same process generates nitrogen oxide molecules which force the atmosphere to dump energy and to be cooled” — Delores Knipp from Colorado university in Bouldere (USA) tells.
The earth, unlike Venus and some other planets of the Solar system, has own magnetic field which is developed as a result of movement of liquid flows of metal in its kernel. This magnetic field plays a role of peculiar “board” which reflects cosmic rays, charged particles of high energies, and protects Earth from solar wind and emissions of coronal weight in the Sun.
Opening of this magnetic “board” and the flashes bombarding it in the Sun delivered before scientists a new riddle – why collisions of coronal emissions of weight, huge clots of hot solar plasma, don’t warm the atmosphere of Earth and don’t burn everything that is on its surface.
As Knipp tells, it found the answer to this question, studying little-known notes about one of the strongest emissions of coronal weight in the Sun. It happened in 1967, even before sending the first solar observatories to space from which data are used for disclosure of mysteries of interaction of Earth and a star today.
Studying schedules of solar activity in 1967 and how the atmosphere reacted to it, Knipp found out that collision of solar plasma with magnetic “board” of Earth leads not only to an atmosphere warming up, but also by the birth of other processes which can cool Earth.
It checked their existence, having studied data which were collected by two rather little-known probes of NASA – SNOE and TIMED studying concentration of one of toxic gases – oxides of nitrogen (NO) in Earth upper atmosphere in the 90th years and today. This gas as assumed Knipp, could play a key role in chilling of Earth after blow of solar emission, absorbing energy of coronal emission and “catapulting” it back in space in the form of heat and other forms of electromagnetic radiation.
As showed comparison of splashes in concentration of NO in the atmosphere and time of flashes, it, most likely, is valid so – each episode of solar activity was followed by sharp increase in concentration of nitrogen oxide in an ionosphere that brought, through rather small time, to sharp reduction of air temperature from 400 degrees Celsius to negative values.
It protects the atmosphere of Earth from an overheat and allows life to exist on it even after the most powerful flashes to the Sun, similar to an event of Karrington of 1859 and emission of coronal weight in March, 1989 when their effects put out of action cable networks to the USA and all power supply network in Canada. Further studying of this mechanism of self-cooling as scientists hope, will help to understand what threat of life is posed by super-flashes in the Sun and as we can be protected from them.
