Identification

Title

Solar flare impacts on ionospheric electrodyamics

Abstract

The sudden increase of X-ray and extreme ultra-violet irradiance during flares increases the density of the ionosphere through enhanced photoionization. In this paper, we use model simulations to investigate possible additional contributions from electrodynamics, finding that the vertical E × B drift in the magnetic equatorial region plays a significant role in the ionosphere response to solar flares. During the initial stage of flares, upward E × B drifts weaken in the magnetic equatorial region, causing a weakened equatorial fountain effect, which in turn causes lowering of the peak height of the F₂ region and depletion of the peak electron density of the F₂ region. In this initial stage, total electron content (TEC) enhancement is predominantly determined by solar zenith angle control of photoionization. As flares decay, upward E × B drifts are enhanced in the magnetic equatorial region, causing increases of the peak height and density of the F₂ region. This process lasts for several hours, causing a prolonged F₂-region disturbance and TEC enhancement in the magnetic equator region in the aftermath of flares. During this stage, the global morphology of the TEC enhancement becomes predominantly determined by these perturbations to the electrodynamics of the ionosphere.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7h132nm

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

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keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

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Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2012-03-20T00:00:00Z

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Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact