A range of analysis approaches,namely continuous wavelet,cross wavelet,and wavelet coherence analyses,are employed to clarify the phase relationship between the smoothed monthly mean sunspot number and solar 10.7 cm flux(F10.7).Analysis shows that there is a region of high spectral power sitting across the Schwabe cycle belt,where the two time series are in phase.However,analysis of the cross-wavelet transform and wavelet coherence unveils asynchronous behavior featured with phase mixing in the high-frequency components of sunspot activity and solar F10.7,which may explain the different activity properties of the photosphere and corona on a short time scale.
We studied the properties of the main phases of 24 super geomagnetic storms(SGSs)(ΔSYM-H≤-250 nT)since 1981.We divided the SGSs into two subgroups:SGSs-Ⅰ(-400 nT<ΔSYM-H≤-250 nT)and SGSs-Ⅱ(ΔSYM-H≤-400 nT).Of the 24 SGSs,16 are SGSs-Ⅰand eight are SGSs-Ⅱ.The source locations of SGSs were distributed in the longitudinal scope of[E37,W66].95.8%of the SGSs were distributed in the longitudinal scope of[E37,W20].East and west hemispheres of the Sun had 14 and 10 SGSs,respectively.The durations of the main phases for six SGSs ranged from 2 to 4 hr.The durations of the main phases for the rest 18 SGSs were longer than 6.5 hr.The duration of the SGSs with source locations in the west hemisphere varied from 2.22 to 19.58 hr.The duration for the SGSs with the source locations in the east hemisphere ranged from 2.1 to31.88 hr.The averaged duration of the main phases of the SGSs in the west and east hemispheres are 8.3 hr and13.98 hr,respectively.|ΔSYM-H/Δt|for six SGSs with source locations distributed in the longitudinal area ranging from E15 to W20 was larger than 1.0 nT·minute^(-1),while|ΔSYM-H/Δt|for the rest 18 SGSs was lower than 1.0 nT·minute^(-1).|ΔSYM-H/Δt|for SGSs-Ⅰvaried from 0.18 to 3.0 nT·minute^(-1).|ΔSYM-H/Δt|for eight SGSs-Ⅱvaried from 0.37 to 2.2 nT·minute^(-1)with seven SGSs-Ⅱfalling in the scope from 0.37 to0.992 nT·minute^(-1).
This is a study designed to analyze the relationship between ground level enhancements（GLEs）and their associated solar active regions during solar cycles 22and 23.Results show that 90.3%of the GLE events that are investigated are accompanied by X-class flares,and that 77.4%of the GLE events originate from super active regions.It is found that the intensity of a GLE event is strongly associated with the specific position of an active region where the GLE event occurs.As a consequence,the GLE events having a peak increase rate exceeding 50%occur in a longitudinal range from W20 to W100.Moreover,the largest GLE events occur in a heliographic longitude at roughly W60.Additionally,an analysis is made to understand the distributional pattern of the Carrington longitude of the active regions that have generated the GLE events.
An interplanetary shock and a magnetic cloud(MC) reached the Earth on 2012 July 14 and 15 one after another.The shock sheath and the MC triggered an intense geomagnetic storm.We find that only small part of the MC from06:45 UT to 10:05 UT on 2012 July 15 made contribution to the intense geomagnetic storm,while the rest part of the MC made no contribution to the intense geomagnetic storm.The averaged southward component of interplanetary magnetic field(Bs) and duskward-electric fields(Ey) within the MC from 10:05 UT,2012 July 15 to09:08 UT,2012 July 16(hereafter MC2),are 15.11 nT and 8.01 my m-1,respectively.According to the empirical formula established by Burton et al.(hereafter Burton equation),the geoeffectiveness of MC2 should be-655.42 nT,while the geoeffectiveness of MC2 is-324.68 nT according to the empirical formula established by O’Brien & McPherron(hereafter OM equation).However,the real geoeffectiveness of MC2 is 39.74 nT.The results indicate that the Burton equation and the OM equation cannot work effectively.The geoeffectiveness of MC2 shows that large and long duration of Bs or Ey cannot guarantee the occurrence of an intense geomagnetic storm if the solar wind dynamic pressure is very low.If we use 0.52 as γ,the geoeffectiveness of MC2 is 40.36 nT according to the empirical formula established by Wang et al.,which is very close to the observed value,indicating that the empirical formula established by Wang et al.is much better than the Burton equation and the OM equation.
We examine the solar cycle distribution of major geomagnetic storms （Dst ≤ -100 nT）, including intense storms at the level of -200 nT〈 Dst ≤ -100 nT, great storms at -300 nT〈 Dst ≤-200 nT, and super storms at Dst ≤ -300 nT, which occurred during the period of 1957-2006, based on Dst indices and smoothed monthly sunspot numbers. Statistics show that the majority （82%） of the geomagnetic storms at the level of Dst≤ -100 nT that occurred in the study pe- riod were intense geomagnetic storms, with 12.4% ranked as great storms and 5.6% as super storms. It is interesting to note that about 27% of the geomagnetic storms that occurred at all three intensity levels appeared in the ascending phase of a solar cycle, and about 73% in the descending one. Statistics also show that 76.9% of the intense storms, 79.6% of the great storms and 90.9% of the super storms occurred during the two years before a solar cycle reached its peak, or in the three years after it. The correlation between the size of a solar cycle and the percentage of major storms that occurred, during the period from two years prior to maximum to three years af- ter it, is investigated. Finally, the properties of the multi-peak distribution for major geomagnetic storms in each solar cycle is investigated.
Gui-Ming LeZi-Yu CaiHua-Ning WangZhi-Qiang YinPeng Li
Extreme space weather events including≥X5.0 flares,ground level enhancement(GLE)events and super geomagnetic storms(Dst≥-250 nT)caused by super active regions(SARs)during solar cycles 21-24 were studied.The total number ofX5.0 solar flares was 62,among which 41 were X5.0-X9.9 flares and 21 were≥X10.0 flares.We found that 83.9%of the≥X5.0 flares were produced by SARs;78.05%of the X5.0-X9.9 and 95.24%of the≥X10.0 solar flares were produced by SARs;46 GLEs were registered during solar cycles 21-24,and 25 GLEs were caused by SARs,indicating that 54.3%of the GLEs were caused by SARs;24 super geomagnetic storms were recorded during solar cycles 21-24,and 12 of them were caused by SARs,namely 50%of the super geomagnetic storms were caused by SARs.We ascertained that only 29 SARs produced≥X5.0 flares,15 SARs generated GLEs and 10 SARs triggered super geomagnetic storms.Of the 51 SARs,only 33 SARs produced at least one extreme space weather event,while none of the other 18 SARs could trigger an extreme space weather event.There were only four SARs and each of them generated not only a≥X5.0 flare,but also a GLE event and a super geomagnetic storm.Most of the extreme space weather events caused by the SARs appeared during solar cycles 22 and 23,especially for GLE events and super geomagnetic storms.The longitudinal distributions of source locations for the extreme space weather events caused by SARs were also studied.
According to the solar proton data observed by Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites （GOES）, ground-based neutron monitors on Earth and near-relativistic electron data measured by the ACE spacecraft, the onset times of protons with different energies and near-relativistic electrons have been estimated and compared with the time of solar soft and hard X-ray and radio burst data. The results show that first arriving relativistic and non-relativistic protons and electrons may have been accelerated by the concurrent flare. The results also suggest that release times of protons with different energies may be different, and the protons with lower energy may have been released earlier than those with higher energy. Some protons accelerated by concurrent flares may be further accelerated by the shock driven by the associated CME.
