Total solar eclipses do not cause earthquakes and do not interrupt communications: study

The Meclipseo2024 project created by a group of Mexican scientists to observe the geomagnetic, electrical and gravitational disturbances during the total solar eclipse of April 8, already has preliminary results of its experiments that conclude that the astral spectacle had effects on the solid earth that are not perceptible to human senses, but that can be measured with special devices.

Before the eclipse, researchers from the Magnetic Service of the Institute of Geophysics (IG) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), as well as the Department of Engineering Geophysics, the Institute of Geosciences and the Institute of Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics (IRyA), Morelia campus, were organized “around an ambitious project, which not only studied the moment when the Moon aligned with the Sun, but also contemplated an entire lunar cycle.

We began to measure indicators on the full moon of March 25 and concluded their measurements on the 22nd of this month.said Gerardo Cifuentes Nava, from the IG.

During the talk What is the Meclipseo project?, organized by the Museum of Geophysics of the highest educational institution, the researcher explained that the name of the project corresponds to the English acronym of Manuel Mena’s Eclipse Solid Earth Observation, which in Spanish is translates as solid earth observation Manuel Menasince the name was taken from a retired IG scientist who made great contributions to volcanology and geoscience through his observations of the gravitational field and the Earth’s tide.

The specialist mentioned that citizens are accustomed to seeing the transmissions of this astral event, from the beginning of the overlapping phase of the Moon and the Sun, the moment of total coverage, and until it concludes, That is what everyone sees, it is what impresses people because in itself it is of great beauty..

But the members of Meclipseo had other concerns in the context of the total solar eclipse on April 8, the main one being: What happens on Earth while this astral phenomenon occurs?

Cifuentes Nava explained that the observation carried out during the complete lunar cycle (28 days) prior to April 8, was dedicated to analyzing the terrestrial tide, which is very similar to what we know as an oceanic tide, only that it does not develop over a liquid. but on a solid, which is the Earth’s crust, but which is generated under the influence of the Sun and the Moon, although it is not as perceptible or known by the population.

During that period, a part of the Meclipseo members settled on Isla de la Piedra, in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, and another stayed at the Geophysics Institute substation in Ciudad Universitaria, in Mexico City, to raise their indicators. , with instruments such as the gravimeter, which measures the field of gravitational attractions not only of the planet, but also of the Moon and the Sun, and is capable of detecting very small gravitational fields, such as that produced by a mineral deposit or a cavity in the subsoil, or an aquifer..

They also installed a magnetometer, an ultrasensitive compass, which can detect changes in the magnetic field; a resistivity meter, used to measure the electric field, that makes tomography scans in the subsoil to see how what is below us evolvesand a broadband seismometer, to detect earthquakes, with the characteristic of allowing us to do in-depth mapping of the composition of the subsoil and seismic noise.

Other equipment was the high resolution global positioning system, to observe the formation of the Earth’s crust, since they can measure horizontal and vertical components up to millimeters of movement.

A couple of days after concluding his measurements, Cifuentes Nava mentioned that they already have preliminary results where the gravitational effect of the Earth is observed during the lunar cycle, where there are maximum values ​​reached on the day of the total solar eclipse.

Regarding the behavior of the subsoil, the tomography detected changes in the electric fields, In the last days of March and the first of April, geomagnetic storms were observed.

Although they are still analyzing the data collected, among the conclusions they reached it stands out that total solar eclipses do not cause earthquakes and do not interrupt communications, but they do have effects on the solid earth, which are not perceptible to the human senses, but They can be measured with those special devices.