Skip to main content

Complexity in Sequences of Solar Flares and Earthquakes

  • Chapter
Earthquakes: Simulations, Sources and Tsunamis

Part of the book series: Pageoph Topical Volumes ((PTV))

  • 1307 Accesses

Abstract

In this paper the statistical properties of solar flares and earthquakes are compared by analyzing the energy distributions, the time series of energies and interevent times, and, above all, the distributions of interevent times per se. It is shown that the two phenomena have different statistics of scaling, and even the same phenomenon, when observed in different periods or at different locations, is characterized by different statistics that cannot be uniformly rescaled onto a single, universal curve. The results indicate apparent complexity of impulsive energy release processes, which neither follow a common behaviour nor could be attributed to a universal physical mechanism.

Published Online First: April 2, 2008

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Aschwanden, M., Physics of the Solar Corona (Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bak, P., Christensen, K., Danon, L., and Scanlon, T. (2002), Unified scaling law for earthquakes, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 178501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boffetta, G., Carbone, V., Giuliani, P., Veltri, P., and Vulpiani, A. (1999), Power laws in solar flares: Self-organized criticality or turbulence? Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 4662–4665.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bufe, C.G., Nishenko, S.P., and Varnes, D.J. (1994), Seismicity trends and potential for large earthquakes in the Alaska-Aleutian region, Pure Appl. Geophys. 142, 83–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corral, A. (2003), Local distributions and rate fluctuations in a unified scaling law for earthquakes, Phys. Rev. E 68, 035102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, N.B., Aschwanden, M.J., and Dennis, B.R. (1993), Frequency distributions and correlations of solar X-ray flare parameters, Solar Phys. 143, 275–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, G.F., Dynamic Earth: Plates, Plumes and Mantle Convection, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999).

    Google Scholar 

  • de Arcangelis, L., Godano, C., Lippiello, E., and Nicodemi, M. (2006), Universality in solar flare and earthquake occurrence, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 051102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabrielov, A., Newman, W.I., and Turcotte, D.L. (1999), An exactly soluble hierarchical clustering model: Inverse cascades, self-similarity, and scaling, Phys. Rev. E 60, 5293–5300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutenberg, B., and Richter, C.F., Seismicity of the Earth, 2nd ed. (Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1954).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanamori, H. and Brodsky, E.H. (2001), The Physics of Earthquakes. Physics Today, June 2001, 34–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keilis-Borok, V.I. (1990), The lithosphere of the Earth as a nonlinear system with implications for earthquake prediction, Rev. Geophys. 28 (1), 19–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kossobokov, V.G. and Mazhkenov, S.A., Spatial characteristics of similarity for earthquake sequences: Fractality of seismicity, Lecture Notes of the Workshop on Global Geophysical Informatics with Applications to Research in Earthquake Prediction and Reduction of Seismic Risk 15 Nov.–16 Dec., 1988), 15 pp., (ICTP, Trieste 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kossobokov, V.G., Keilis-Borok, V.I., and Cheng, B. (2000), Similarities of multiple fracturing on a neutron star and on the Earth, Phys. Rev. E 61, 3529–3533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kossobokov, V.G. and Nekrasova, A.K. (2005), Temporal variations in the parameters of the Unified Scaling Law for Earthquakes in the eastern part of Honshu Island (Japan), Doklady Earth Sciences 405, 1352–1356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, R.P., Schwartz, R.A., Kane, S.R., Pelling, R.M., and Hurley, K.C. (1984), Solar hard X-ray microflares, Astrophys. J. 283, 421–425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norris, J.P., Herz, P., Wood, K.S., and Kouveliotou, C. (1991), On the nature of soft gamma repeaters, Astrophys. J. 366, 240–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okubo, P.G., and Aki, K. (1987), Fractal geometry in the San Andreas Fault system, J. Geophys. Res. 92 (B1), 345–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Omori, F. (1894), On the after-shocks of earthquakes, J. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Tokyo 7, 111–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, C., and Duncan, R. C. (1995), The soft gamma repeaters as very strongly magnetized neutron stars — I. Radiative mechanism for outbursts, Mon. Not. R. Astr. Soc. 275, 255–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turcotte, D.L., Fractals and Chaos in Geology and Geophysics, 2nd edition, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  • Utsu, T., Ogata, Y., and Matsu’ura, R.S. (1995), The centenary of the Omori formula for a decay law of aftershock activity. J. Phys. Earth 43, 1–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varnes, D.J. (1989), Predicting earthquakes by analyzing accelerating precursory seismic activity, Pure Appl. Geophys. 130, 661–686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kossobokov, V.G., Lepreti, F., Carbone, V. (2008). Complexity in Sequences of Solar Flares and Earthquakes. In: Tiampo, K.F., Weatherley, D.K., Weinstein, S.A. (eds) Earthquakes: Simulations, Sources and Tsunamis . Pageoph Topical Volumes. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8757-0_19

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics