Can solar storms cause tsunamis?

 The sun, as a result of its activity, regularly ejects streams of plasma into the surrounding space. When the Earth is now facing the ejection, the solar wind rushes over our planet at great speed and causes magnetic storms. They can lead to man-made disasters. But can they cause a natural disaster, such as trigger a tsunami?

Tsunamis are long ocean waves that result from a strong impact on a water column. As a rule, tsunamis are triggered by earthquakes when lithospheric plates begin to slide beneath the ocean floor. They displace water, which creates an ultra-fast and powerful wave. In addition, the tsunami could be the result of a massive volcanic eruption, as happened in January this year when Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai erupted.

The flow of solar energy cannot directly cause a tsunami, but what about a solar storm? No matter how powerful it is, the plasma falling on the Earth cannot displace the water from the ocean, creating a wave. However, this does not mean that a solar storm cannot cause this natural disaster. According to some scientists, however, the flow of solar plasma can indirectly trigger a giant wave.

There are storms so powerful on our star that they leave their traces on Earth for thousands of years. Radioactive fallout was found in the ice of Greenland that hit Greenland over 9,000 years ago, according to scientists in a recent study found in the journal Nature. They were brought to our planet along with the solar wind. If such a solar storm were to occur now, it would deprive us of electricity, communication and other benefits of civilization.

According to the researchers, when charged particles enter the magnetosphere, they can affect the movement of tectonic plates. A study previously published in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that earthquakes may generate even weaker solar storms than what occurred 9,000 years ago. And earthquakes, as we said above, cause tsunamis if they occur beneath the ocean floor.

Solar storms, which can affect the Earth and cause earthquakes, according to some scientists, occur when the Sun's magnetic fields become entangled or destroyed. This causes an explosion of magnetic fields. In this case, the star ejects powerful plasma jets.

During the period of solar activity, the number of earthquakes on Earth increases. Scientists say that solar wind particles, as they enter the Earth's magnetosphere, affect the intensity of earthquakes because they somehow exacerbate the processes that cause one tectonic plate to collapse under another.

In the work of scientists published in Scientific Research, it is reported that the number of earthquakes on our planet increased during the solar maximum, i.e. during the 11 years when solar activity is at its highest. It is during this period that the likelihood of the emission of solar wind is greatest.

However, for the time being, this is just a supposition for which there is some indirect evidence, such as statistics. However, scientists cannot explain exactly how solar storms, or rather charged particles, affect tectonic plates. And in general, it still cannot be proved such an impact as reported in the journal Scientific Research. But it is possible that in the near future it will still be possible to get an exact answer to this question.