Huge hole in our magnetic field..?

[Avid]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencean...suns-rays.html
"The discovery was made last summer by Themis, a fleet of five small NASA satellites.
Scientists have long known that the Earth's magnetic field, which guards against severe space weather, is similar to a draughty old house that sometimes lets in violent eruptions of charged particles from the sun. Such a breach can cause brilliant auroras or disrupt satellite and ground communications.
Observations from Themis show the Earth's magnetic field occasionally develops two cracks, allowing solar wind – a stream of charged particles spewing from the sun at 1 million mph (1.6 million kph) – to penetrate the Earth's upper atmosphere.
Last summer, Themis calculated a layer of solar particles to be at least 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometres) thick in the outermost part of the Earth's magnetosphere, the largest tear of the protective shield found so far.
"It was growing rather fast," Themis scientist Marit Oieroset of the University of California, Berkeley told an American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
Scientists initially believed the greatest solar breach occurs when the Earth's and sun's magnetic fields are pointed in opposite directions. But data from Themis found the opposite to be true. Twenty times more solar wind passed into the Earth's protective shield when the magnetic fields were aligned, Mr Oieroset said.
The Themis results could have bearing on how scientists predict the severity of solar storms and their effects on power grids, airline and military communications and satellite signals.
Earlier this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the first sunspot of a new 11-year cycle has appeared in the sun's northern hemisphere.
Jimmy Raeder, a physicist with the University of New Hampshire, predicted a more intense solar cycle. That's because the Earth's and the sun's magnetic fields will be in sync at the cycle's peak, expected in 2012, that will cause an influx of solar particles, Raeder said.
The Themis satellites were launched to find the source of brief powerful geomagnetic disturbances in the Earth's atmosphere."

[Dantheman62]

Hey Avid, The ESA (European Space Agency) has a spacecraft watching the sun, here's a part of the article....The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is stationed 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth. There, it constantly watches the Sun, returning spectacular pictures and data of the storms that rage across its surface. SOHO's studies range from the Sun's hot interior, through its visible surface and stormy atmosphere, and out to distant regions where the wind from the Sun battles with a breeze of atoms coming from among the stars. The SOHO mission is a joint ESA/NASA project.


What's special?

Every day SOHO sends thrilling images from which research scientists learn about the Sun's nature and behaviour. Experts around the world use SOHO images and data to help them predict 'space weather' events affecting our planet.
SOHO moves around the Sun on the sunward side of Earth, where it enjoys an uninterrupted view of the Sun, by slowly orbiting around Lagrange point L1. This a spot in space where the gravitational fields of the Sun and Earth cancel each other and keep SOHO in an orbit locked in line with the two bodies.

Discoveries include complex currents of gas flowing beneath the visible solar surface and rapid changes in the pattern of magnetic fields. In the Sun’s atmosphere, SOHO also sees explosions, remarkable shock waves and tornadoes. http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120373_index_0_m.html

[Avid]

Not so techie as that - just panicking about my electronics here - wrap 'em up and bury for awhile or is this subjective... and needs more input from advisors?
What does it mean? Sun cream? Threats to crops? Anything????
Forebodings....???