|
Titel |
Solar flares as proxy for the young Sun: satellite observed thermosphere response to an X17.2 flare of Earth's upper atmosphere |
VerfasserIn |
S. Krauss, B. Fichtinger, H. Lammer, W. Hausleitner, Yu. N. Kulikov, I. Ribas, V. I. Shematovich, D. Bisikalo, H. I. M. Lichtenegger, T. V. Zaqarashvili, M. L. Khodachenko, A. Hanslmeier |
Medientyp |
Artikel
|
Sprache |
Englisch
|
ISSN |
0992-7689
|
Digitales Dokument |
URL |
Erschienen |
In: Annales Geophysicae ; 30, no. 8 ; Nr. 30, no. 8 (2012-08-09), S.1129-1141 |
Datensatznummer |
250017250
|
Publikation (Nr.) |
copernicus.org/angeo-30-1129-2012.pdf |
|
|
|
Zusammenfassung |
We analyzed the measured thermospheric response of an extreme
solar X17.2 flare that irradiated the Earth's upper atmosphere during the
so-called Halloween events in late October/early November 2003. We suggest
that such events can serve as proxies for the intense electromagnetic and
corpuscular radiation environment of the Sun or other stars during their
early phases of evolution. We applied and compared empirical thermosphere
models with satellite drag measurements from the GRACE satellites and found
that the Jacchia-Bowman 2008 model can reproduce the drag measurements very
well during undisturbed solar conditions but gets worse during extreme
solar events. By analyzing the peak of the X17.2 flare spectra and comparing
it with spectra of young solar proxies, our results indicate that the peak
flare radiation flux corresponds to a hypothetical Sun-like star or the Sun
at the age of approximately 2.3 Gyr. This implies that the peak extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation
is enhanced by a factor of about 2.5 times compared to today's Sun. On the
assumption that the Sun emitted an EUV flux of that magnitude and by modifying
the activity indices in the Jacchia-Bowman 2008 model, we obtain an average
exobase temperature of 1950 K, which corresponds with previous theoretical
studies related to thermospheric heating and expansion caused by the solar
EUV flux. |
|
|
Teil von |
|
|
|
|
|
|