Nitric oxide and lower ionosphere quantities during solar particle events of October 1989 after rocket and ground-based measurements |
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Affiliation: | 1. Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 2, Novosibirsk 630090, U.S.S.R.;2. Geophysical Institute, Czechoslovak Academy of Science, Boc̆ni II, 141 31 Prague 4, Czechoslovakia;1. Space Sciences Department, The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA, United States;2. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, United States;1. INFN – University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy;2. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy;3. Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, China;4. Institute of Crustal Dynamics, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, China;5. INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome, Italy;6. GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany;7. TIFPA and University of Trento, Trento, Italy;8. University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy;9. Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Rome, Italy;1. Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;2. Department of Physics, University of Texas, Arlington, USA;1. Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland;2. Space Sciences Department, Aerospace Corporation, Chantilly, VA, United States;3. Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States |
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Abstract: | The most dramatic demonstrations of solar activity are solar proton flares. One such very strong flare, accompanied by a solar proton event (SPE) and a large ground level enhancement of cosmic rays on Earth, was observed in October 1989. During this SPE, ion density and nitric oxide concentration profiles were measured by rockets launched from the Soviet research vessel ‘Akademik Shirshov’ in the southern part of the Indian Ocean. The rocket experiment yielded the first in-situ measurement of NO concentration increased by SPE. The NO concentrations estimated from ion-pair production rates due to measured fluxes of high energy particles agree fairly well with the observed NO concentrations in the stratopause region. The results of rocket measurements are compared with measurements of the radio wave absorption in the lower ionosphere performed at similar latitudes in central Europe. Model calculations of absorption show that while the night-time enhancement of absorption can be explained by increased electron density related to the measured increase of ion density as a consequence of enhanced penetration of high energy particles, the daytime increase of absorption needs to be explained mainly in terms of the observed increase of nitric oxide concentration. |
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