1. Pulsations in the Earth's Lower Ionosphere Synchronized With Solar Flare Emission
- Author
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Laura A. Hayes, Peter T. Gallagher, Jack Ireland, Brian R. Dennis, Joseph McCauley, and Andrew Inglis
- Subjects
Electron density ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Extreme ultraviolet lithography ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Flux ,Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Physics::Geophysics ,law.invention ,Physics - Space Physics ,law ,0103 physical sciences ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Very low frequency ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Physics ,Solar flare ,Space Physics (physics.space-ph) ,Geophysics ,Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Space and Planetary Science ,Extreme ultraviolet ,Physics::Space Physics ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Ionosphere ,Flare - Abstract
Solar flare emission at X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) energies can cause substantial enhancements in the electron density in the Earth's lower ionosphere. It is now become clear that flares exhibit quasi-periodic pulsations with timescales of minutes at X-ray energies, but to date, it has not been known if the ionosphere is sensitive to this variability. Here, using a combination of Very Low Frequency (24 kHz) measurement together with space-based X-ray and EUV observations, we report pulsations of the ionospheric D-region, which are synchronized with a set of pulsating flare loops. Modeling of the ionosphere show that the D-region electron density varies by up to an order of magnitude over the timescale of the pulsations ($\sim$20 mins). Our results reveal that the Earth's ionosphere is more sensitive to small-scale changes in solar soft X-ray flux than previously thought, and implies that planetary ionospheres are closely coupled to small-scale changes in solar/stellar activity., Accepted in JGR Space Physics
- Published
- 2017
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