A Comparative Study of Ground-level Enhancement Events of Solar Energetic Particles

Major solar eruptions can accelerate protons up to relativistic energies. Solar relativistic ions arriving at 1 au may cause a solar particle event detectable by the worldwide network of neutron monitors (NMs), a ground-level enhancement (GLE) event. Using the newly computed NM yield function, we ha...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Leon Kocharov, Alexander Mishev, Esa Riihonen, Rami Vainio, Ilya Usoskin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2023-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acfee8
_version_ 1797613793028603904
author Leon Kocharov
Alexander Mishev
Esa Riihonen
Rami Vainio
Ilya Usoskin
author_facet Leon Kocharov
Alexander Mishev
Esa Riihonen
Rami Vainio
Ilya Usoskin
author_sort Leon Kocharov
collection DOAJ
description Major solar eruptions can accelerate protons up to relativistic energies. Solar relativistic ions arriving at 1 au may cause a solar particle event detectable by the worldwide network of neutron monitors (NMs), a ground-level enhancement (GLE) event. Using the newly computed NM yield function, we have fitted the 15 historic GLEs. Moments of the fitted proton distributions are used for the analysis. Profiles of the proton net flux are very diverse, while some profiles are similar. For this study, we select two events with similar time profiles, GLE 60 (2001 April 15) and GLE 65 (2003 October 28), and ask what makes these GLEs similar. We compare the GLEs with their progenitor solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). We find a close relationship between the rise and peak of the GLE, on the one hand, and the solar flare and the metric radio emissions from extended coronal sources at the base of the CME, on the other hand. The GLE decay time, the rate of the proton spectrum evolution, and the CME speed are proportional to the duration of the soft X-ray flare. We compare the two GLEs with GLE 59 (2000 July 14) analyzed by Klein et al. and with the deka-MeV nucleon ^−1 proton and helium data from the ERNE instrument on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft. The comparison indicates that a single solar eruption can produce more than one component of solar energetic particles, differently contributing at different energies and locations.
first_indexed 2024-03-11T06:59:39Z
format Article
id doaj.art-87dc6d0738c2484e85b17a008ee8a59e
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1538-4357
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-11T06:59:39Z
publishDate 2023-01-01
publisher IOP Publishing
record_format Article
series The Astrophysical Journal
spelling doaj.art-87dc6d0738c2484e85b17a008ee8a59e2023-11-17T09:20:59ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572023-01-01958212210.3847/1538-4357/acfee8A Comparative Study of Ground-level Enhancement Events of Solar Energetic ParticlesLeon Kocharov0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2077-5618Alexander Mishev1Esa Riihonen2Rami Vainio3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3298-2067Ilya Usoskin4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8227-9081Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, University of Oulu , Oulu 90014, FinlandSodankylä Geophysical Observatory, University of Oulu , Oulu 90014, Finland; Space Physics and Astronomy Research Unit, Faculty of Sciences, University of Oulu , Oulu 90014, FinlandSpace Research Laboratory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku , Turku 20014, FinlandSpace Research Laboratory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku , Turku 20014, FinlandSodankylä Geophysical Observatory, University of Oulu , Oulu 90014, Finland; Space Physics and Astronomy Research Unit, Faculty of Sciences, University of Oulu , Oulu 90014, FinlandMajor solar eruptions can accelerate protons up to relativistic energies. Solar relativistic ions arriving at 1 au may cause a solar particle event detectable by the worldwide network of neutron monitors (NMs), a ground-level enhancement (GLE) event. Using the newly computed NM yield function, we have fitted the 15 historic GLEs. Moments of the fitted proton distributions are used for the analysis. Profiles of the proton net flux are very diverse, while some profiles are similar. For this study, we select two events with similar time profiles, GLE 60 (2001 April 15) and GLE 65 (2003 October 28), and ask what makes these GLEs similar. We compare the GLEs with their progenitor solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). We find a close relationship between the rise and peak of the GLE, on the one hand, and the solar flare and the metric radio emissions from extended coronal sources at the base of the CME, on the other hand. The GLE decay time, the rate of the proton spectrum evolution, and the CME speed are proportional to the duration of the soft X-ray flare. We compare the two GLEs with GLE 59 (2000 July 14) analyzed by Klein et al. and with the deka-MeV nucleon ^−1 proton and helium data from the ERNE instrument on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft. The comparison indicates that a single solar eruption can produce more than one component of solar energetic particles, differently contributing at different energies and locations.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acfee8Solar energetic particlesSolar flaresSolar radio flaresSolar x-ray flaresSolar coronal mass ejections
spellingShingle Leon Kocharov
Alexander Mishev
Esa Riihonen
Rami Vainio
Ilya Usoskin
A Comparative Study of Ground-level Enhancement Events of Solar Energetic Particles
The Astrophysical Journal
Solar energetic particles
Solar flares
Solar radio flares
Solar x-ray flares
Solar coronal mass ejections
title A Comparative Study of Ground-level Enhancement Events of Solar Energetic Particles
title_full A Comparative Study of Ground-level Enhancement Events of Solar Energetic Particles
title_fullStr A Comparative Study of Ground-level Enhancement Events of Solar Energetic Particles
title_full_unstemmed A Comparative Study of Ground-level Enhancement Events of Solar Energetic Particles
title_short A Comparative Study of Ground-level Enhancement Events of Solar Energetic Particles
title_sort comparative study of ground level enhancement events of solar energetic particles
topic Solar energetic particles
Solar flares
Solar radio flares
Solar x-ray flares
Solar coronal mass ejections
url https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acfee8
work_keys_str_mv AT leonkocharov acomparativestudyofgroundlevelenhancementeventsofsolarenergeticparticles
AT alexandermishev acomparativestudyofgroundlevelenhancementeventsofsolarenergeticparticles
AT esariihonen acomparativestudyofgroundlevelenhancementeventsofsolarenergeticparticles
AT ramivainio acomparativestudyofgroundlevelenhancementeventsofsolarenergeticparticles
AT ilyausoskin acomparativestudyofgroundlevelenhancementeventsofsolarenergeticparticles
AT leonkocharov comparativestudyofgroundlevelenhancementeventsofsolarenergeticparticles
AT alexandermishev comparativestudyofgroundlevelenhancementeventsofsolarenergeticparticles
AT esariihonen comparativestudyofgroundlevelenhancementeventsofsolarenergeticparticles
AT ramivainio comparativestudyofgroundlevelenhancementeventsofsolarenergeticparticles
AT ilyausoskin comparativestudyofgroundlevelenhancementeventsofsolarenergeticparticles