1. What causes them?
Not sure check this site
hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov...
2. How long would it take for this to travel and hit earth?
a few minutes, up to an hour or two, I would think depending of the originating location on the sun and the earth's orbit etc...
3. What could the results be if it hit southern, northern or center.
I think the biggest disruption regardless of region would be to satellite and radio communications. Might cause blackouts for various
technologies.
4. Is it possible one could hit us without any warning?
I guess it could if no one is paying attention to the sun at a particular moment, but I would think at least a few people would know when one is
headed our way, whether the mass media and govt officially informs us...?
5. What can we as a public do to protect ourselves if we are alerted to one coming our way?
be prepared for disruptions in communications that could lead to other infrastructure failure. stay indoors, it believed that radiation from cme's
could change cell structure... more cancer etc...
Now there's the theory that solar flares causes increase in earthquake and volcanic activity, also possibily affecting animal life too, so it's
possible it also affects humans in ways we have yet to determine other than what is theorized above....
[edit on 1-25-2007 by worldwatcher]