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10543
10588
2007-07-23
Short- and medium-term atmospheric effects of very large solar proton events
C. H. Jackman
charles.h.jackman@nasa.gov
D. R. Marsh
F. M. Vitt
R. R. Garcia
E. L. Fleming
G. J. Labow
C. E. Randall
M. López-Puertas
B. Funke
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
Instituto de-Astrofisica de Andalucia, CSIC, Granada, Spain
Solar eruptions sometimes produce protons, which impact the Earth's
atmosphere. These solar proton events (SPEs) generally last a few days and
produce high energy particles that precipitate into the Earth's atmosphere.
The protons cause ionization and dissociation processes that ultimately lead
to an enhancement of odd-hydrogen and odd-nitrogen in the polar cap regions
(>60° geomagnetic latitude). We have used the Whole Atmosphere
Community Climate Model (WACCM3) to study the atmospheric impact of SPEs
over the period 1963–2005. The very largest SPEs were found to be the most
important and caused atmospheric effects that lasted several months to years
after the events. We present the short- and medium-term (days to a few
months) atmospheric influence of the four largest SPEs in the past 45 years
(August 1972; October 1989; July 2000; and October–November 2003) as
computed by WACCM3 and observed by satellite instruments. The polar effects
can be summarized as follows: 1) Mesospheric NO<sub>x</sub> (NO+NO<sub>2</sub>)
increased by over 50 ppbv and mesospheric ozone decreased by over 30%
during these very large SPEs; 2) upper stratospheric and lower mesospheric
NO<sub>x</sub> increased by over 10 ppbv and was transported during polar night
down to the middle stratosphere in a few weeks; 3) mid- to upper
stratospheric ozone decreased over 20%; and 4) enhancements of HNO<sub>3</sub>,
HOCl, ClO, ClONO<sub>2</sub>, and N<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> were indirectly caused by the
very large SPEs, although the model results suggest impacts at higher
altitudes than indicated by the measurements for the October–November 2003 SPE
period.
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