A brief review of “solar flare effects” on the ionosphere

Tsurutani, B. T., O. P. Verkhoglyadova, A. J. Mannucci, G. S. Lakhina, G. Li, and G. P. Zank, A brief review of “solar flare effects” on the ionosphere, Radio Science, 44, RS0A17 (2009) (ADS)

The cartoon

(click on the image for a larger version)

The paper is a nice review of how solar hard radiation affects the ionosphere. The Archivist does not like the nomenclature, though: the authors propose turgid names, such as the "Solar Flare Effect" which readily becomes yet another boring acronym - SFE. Granted, this field has been rife with acronyms for a long time (SFD, SPA, SWF, SCNA, SEA, SID, etc..., each with its distinct significance). However the SFE used to have a colorful and precise term derived from the perturbations scratched out by the earliest recording compasses, such as the one at Kew Gardens that ushered in "space weather" in 1859 by detecting the geomagnetic consequences of a major solar flare. In those days an SFE was called a "magnetic crochet." Why eliminate such a colorful term in favor of a drab TLA? As an aside, how do we pronounce "crochet"?

      Anyway, rant aside, the cartoon nicely shows solar electromagnetic radiation impinging from the left and lighting up the ionosphere in a blood-red color; other effects come from solar particles that stream down into the polar caps of the Earth. Note how the photons (arrows) readily penetrate our geomagnetic shield. The blood red in the polar regions

Date: 2011 January 20

Update: 2019 December 04