The Sun/Natural Disaster Connection

Caught this video over at TB on the Sun-Earth weather connection:

The Sun/Natural Disaster Connection | Space News


Also:

Does the video say what Robertus Maximus over there at TB said this summer, that some EU theorists think powerful CME's could smash Earth's magnetosphere down to the surface on the sunward side and cause electrical discharges strong enough to drive into a continent and heat the rock enough to expand it and build a mountain range? I think I have better evidence that the mountains were formed by fast continental drift from a large asteroid impact.

Haven't seen that Lloyd. Will look into it.

Possibly related as charge flow cycling intensity changes through the poles?

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October 15 2017

Return of 'ocean chimney' the size of Tasmania puzzles Antarctic scientists

Peter Hannam

A rare hole the size of Tasmania has opened up in the sea ice off Antarctica, enthralling scientists keen to understand its cause and the possible role of climate change in its formation.

Known as the Weddell Sea or Maud Rise Polynya, the ice-free zone appeared in September and has grown to as large as 80,000 square kilometres, according to the University of Toronto.
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Polynyas, defined as a stretch of open water surrounded by ice, are frequently found in the Arctic and Antarctica, usually near the coast. They rarely reach the extent now seen in middle of the pack ice.

"Something has changed" to bring the polynya back, Kent Moore, a professor of physics at the University of Toronto, said. "But we not quite sure what that trigger was," he said.
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A much smaller polynya opened up in the same Maud Rise region last year for a couple of weeks. Before that, the previous such event there was in the mid-1970s, with the polynya lasting three years and swelling to as much as five times the current size, Professor Moore said.

Fortuitously, one of 200 biochemical robotic floats released by the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modelling program has surfaced within the polynya. It is sending back data on temperature, salinity and other measurements – potentially saving a costly mission by a research vessel.

"It's just amazing – fantastic news," Jan Lieser, a sea ice scientist at the University of Tasmania, said of the float's location.
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Huge energy release

Normally the sea ice acts as an insulator between the ocean – with waters at freezing point – and the atmosphere, which can be 20 degrees or more below zero.

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Water vapour rises off the Antarctic ice sheet as a rare hole opens in the Antarctic winter sea ice.
Water vapour rises off the Antarctic ice sheet as a rare hole opens in the Antarctic winter sea ice. Photo: Jan Lieser, UTAS/ACE CRC

Once opened, the polynya works like "a chimney from the ocean through the sea ice", transferring huge amounts of energy to the atmosphere, Dr Lieser said.

Professor Moore said the polynya was releasing about 800 watts of energy per square metre – equivalent to about 14 60-watt light bulbs blazing away day and night.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/return-of-ocean-chimney-the-size-of-tasmania-puzzles-antarctic-scientists-20171011-gyz9z1.html