Effect of Solar Activities to the Earth's Atmosphere

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Upper Atmosphere".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 September 2024 | Viewed by 2253

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russia
Interests: solar-terrestrial coupling; geomagnetic activity; ionospheric disturbances

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Guest Editor
Department of Space Science & Engineering, National Central University, Taoyuan 32001, Taiwan
Interests: space weather; solar-terrestrial physics; solar wind–magnetosphere–ionosphere–upper atmosphere coupling
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Solar activity has a strong influence on Earth's atmosphere. The Sun can affect the atmosphere in many ways, including solar flares, variations in solar X-ray and ultraviolet irradiance, release of intense fluxes of solar energetic particles, and coronal mass ejections resulting in auroral phenomena and geomagnetic storms. The contribution of these factors to the overall response of the atmosphere to solar activity requires further comprehensive studies. The occurrence of all these phenomena increases with solar activity. A solar maximum phase of the 25th solar cycle has begun in 2023 with several strong solar events, which have caused major geomagnetic storms. During some of them, anomalous phenomena occurred such as rare mid-latitude aurora.

Studying the response of Earth’s atmosphere to solar activity is of great practical importance. Increased solar radiation and occurrence of geomagnetic storms may cause disturbances in the density of atmospheric gases that result in a greater drag effect, which reduces the lifetime of satellites. Hard electromagnetic radiation produced by solar flares may disturb the ionosphere and, thus, interfere with radio signals, resulting in the degradation of communication quality. More and more accurate knowledge is needed for the stable operation of satellites, telecommunications, etc.

The Special Issue is open to research on the influence of solar activity on the Earth’s atmosphere and the elucidation of various aspects of the mechanism and consequences of its influence.

Additionally, studies of atmospheric and ionospheric phenomena associated with geomagnetic storms at the beginning of the solar maximum of the current 25th solar cycle are welcome.

Dr. Alla Suvorova
Dr. Alexei Dmitriev
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • solar activity
  • solar flares
  • solar energetic particles
  • solar irradiance
  • solar‒terrestrial coupling
  • geomagnetic activity
  • ionospheric disturbances
  • atmospheric perturbations

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 81499 KiB  
Article
Mid- and High-Latitude Electron Temperature Dependence on Solar Activity in the Topside Ionosphere through the Swarm B Satellite Observations and the International Reference Ionosphere Model
by Alessio Pignalberi, Vladimir Truhlik, Fabio Giannattasio, Igino Coco and Michael Pezzopane
Atmosphere 2024, 15(4), 490; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15040490 - 16 Apr 2024
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Abstract
This study focuses on the open question of the electron temperature (Te) variation with solar activity in the topside ionosphere at mid- and high latitudes. It takes advantage of in situ observations taken over a decade (2014–2023) from Langmuir probes [...] Read more.
This study focuses on the open question of the electron temperature (Te) variation with solar activity in the topside ionosphere at mid- and high latitudes. It takes advantage of in situ observations taken over a decade (2014–2023) from Langmuir probes on board the low-Earth-orbit Swarm B satellite and spanning an altitude range of 500–530 km. The study also includes a comparison with Te values modeled using the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model and with Millstone Hill (42.6° N. 71.5° W) incoherent scatter radar observations. The largest Te variation with solar activity was found at high latitudes in the winter season, where Te shows a marked decreasing trend with solar activity in the polar cusp and auroral regions and, more importantly, at sub-auroral latitudes in the nightside sector. Differently, in the summer season, Te increases with solar activity in the polar cusp and auroral regions, while for equinoxes, variations are smaller and less clear. Mid-latitudes generally show negligible Te variations with solar activity, which are mostly within the natural dispersion of Te observations. The comparison between measured and modeled values highlighted that future implementations of the IRI model would benefit from an improved description of the Te dependence on solar activity, especially at high latitudes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effect of Solar Activities to the Earth's Atmosphere)
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26 pages, 12573 KiB  
Article
Seasonal Features of the Ionospheric Total Electron Content Response at Low Latitudes during Three Selected Geomagnetic Storms
by Rumiana Bojilova and Plamen Mukhtarov
Atmosphere 2024, 15(3), 278; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15030278 - 25 Feb 2024
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Abstract
In the present paper, the response of the ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) at low latitudes during several geomagnetic storms occurring in different seasons of the year is investigated. In the analysis of the ionospheric response, the following three geomagnetic events were selected: [...] Read more.
In the present paper, the response of the ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) at low latitudes during several geomagnetic storms occurring in different seasons of the year is investigated. In the analysis of the ionospheric response, the following three geomagnetic events were selected: (i) 23–24 April 2023; (ii) 22–24 June 2015 and (iii) 16 December 2006. Global TEC data were used, with geographic coordinates recalculated with Rawer’s modified dip (modip) latitude, which improved the accuracy of the representation of the ionospheric response at low and mid-latitudes. By decomposition of the zonal distribution of the relative deviation of the TEC values from the hourly medians, the spatial distribution of the anomalies, the dependence of the response on the local time and their evolution during the selected events were analyzed. As a result of the study, it was found that the positive response (i.e., an increase in electron density relative to quiet conditions) in low latitudes occurs at the modip latitudes 30° N and 30° S. An innovative result related to the observed responses during the considered events is that they turn out to be relatively stationary. The longitude variation in the observed maxima changes insignificantly during the storms. Depending on the season, there is an asymmetry between the two hemispheres, which can be explained by the differences in the meridional neutral circulation in different seasons. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effect of Solar Activities to the Earth's Atmosphere)
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15 pages, 3013 KiB  
Article
No Response of Surface-Level Atmospheric Electrical Parameters in Israel to Severe Space Weather Events
by Roy Yaniv, Yoav Yair, Colin Price and Yuval Reuveni
Atmosphere 2023, 14(11), 1649; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14111649 - 03 Nov 2023
Viewed by 619
Abstract
We report ground-based measurements of the atmospheric electric field (Ez = −potential gradient (PG)) and current density (Jz) that were conducted at two locations in Israel. One is at the Emilio Segre cosmic ray station located on Mt. Hermon (34.45° N, 2020 m [...] Read more.
We report ground-based measurements of the atmospheric electric field (Ez = −potential gradient (PG)) and current density (Jz) that were conducted at two locations in Israel. One is at the Emilio Segre cosmic ray station located on Mt. Hermon (34.45° N, 2020 m AMSL) in northern Israel near the Syrian-Lebanon border, and the other is at the Wise astronomical observatory in the Negev desert highland plateau of southern Israel (31.18° N, 870 m AMSL). We searched for possible effects of strong, short-term solar events on the potential gradient and the vertical current density, as disruptions to the global electric circuit are often observed following strong solar events. The first case study (St. Patrick’s Day, 17 March 2015) was classified as the strongest event of 2015. The second case study (8 September 2017) was categorized as the strongest event of 2017 and one of the twenty strongest events on record to date. The results show that the electrical parameters measured at ground level at both stations were not affected during the two massive proton events and the ensuing geomagnetic storms. The magnetospheric shielding in lower latitudes is strong enough to shield against the flux of energetic particles from solar events, obscuring any impact that may be noticeable above the local daily variations induced by local meteorological conditions (aerosol concentrations, clouds, high humidity, and wind speed), which were investigated as well. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effect of Solar Activities to the Earth's Atmosphere)
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