[Aavso-sid-list] Magnetosphere changes used to detect molten rock layer deep below American Southwest

[David Saum]

http://www.asu.edu/news/stories/200706/20070621_geophysicists.htm

....
The sun emits a continuous flow of charged atomic particles called the solar 
wind. This varies in strength as activity on the sun rises and falls. When 
gusts of particles reach Earth, they induce changes in the planet's 
magnetosphere, causing in turn weak, but measurable electrical currents to 
flow through terrestrial rocks deep inside Earth.

Toffelmier and Tyburczy used electromagnetic field data collected by others 
for five regions of Earth: the American Southwest, northern Canada, the 
French Alps, a regionally averaged Europe and the northern Pacific Ocean. 
Only these few data sets contained information gathered over a long-enough 
period to be useful in the computer modeling.

"The long-period waves tell you about deep events and features, while 
short-period ones resolve shallower features," Tyburczy says.

He says to think of it like an inverted cone extending down into Earth. The 
deeper you go, the wider the area that's sampled - and the coarser the 
resolution.

.....

Wonder if this is something we could measure?

Dave