The links between atmospheric vorticity,radiation belt electrons,and the solar wind

The links between winter storm intensity and solar wind variations associated with Heliospheric Current Sheet (HCS) crossings are shown to be present in 1997 through 2002 data without the necessity of high stratospheric aerosol loading.     

Spectral line broadening by relativistic electrons in plasmas: Collision operator

In the present work we compute the real part of the impact collision operator for the electron broadening of ion lines in plasmas, taking into account relativistic effects in the dynamics of the perturbing electron. Specifically two relativistic effects are included: The modification of the trajectory due to non-Newtonian mechanics and the modification of the velocity distribution (Maxwell–Juttner). The results are compared to the non-relativistic case.     

A working hypothesis for connections between electrically-induced changes in cloud microphysics and storm vorticity,with possible effects on circulation

This paper outlines, and explores the uncertainties in, hypothesized connections between a series of processes that could explain two long-standing puzzles; those of (1) the observed winter storm vorticity responses to atmospheric energy inputs that change the ionosphere–earth current density, J_z, that appear to involve storm invigoration, and (2) changes in anti-cyclonic blocking and circulation that include the observed colder winters in Great Britain and western Europe at solar minima, and especially at extended solar minima. A working hypothesis for the mechanism responsible for (1) is that the flow of J_z through conductivity gradients, as in stratified cloud layers and fog, especially with sea-salt aerosol haze over the high latitude winter oceans, deposits electric changes on droplets and aerosol particles; most importantly on cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). These electric charges modulate scavenging of the particles in clouds and haze layers, increasing the concentration of small CCN and decreasing the concentration of large CCN. When further cloud formation occurs there is increased concentration of small droplets and decreased concentration of large ones, reducing coalescence and the production of rain. Thus updrafts carry more liquid water above the freezing level, and there the increased production of ice releases more latent heat and invigorates the updraft (the Rosenfeld mechanism), leading to increased vorticity. Here we explore the major uncertainties for the reality of the above chain of physical processes. A consequence of cumulative cyclonic vorticity increases is increases in downstream anti-cyclonic blocking. A further working hypothesis for (2) is that the invigoration may be large enough to contribute to the observed increases in blocking in winters at solar minima (high J_z) in the North Atlantic, that result in colder winters in the UK and northern Europe.     

Ozone destruction by solar electrons in relation to solar variability and the terrestrial latitude

Precipitating electrons from the radiation belts with energies greater than from 150 keV to 5 MeV have been correlated with ozone data of a large number of stations located within 40–70° N. Energetic electrons have been collected by the low altitude polar Russian satellite METEOR while ozone data have been compiled from almost ninety (90) stations located all over the world within the latitude zone 40–70° N.     

Qualitative estimation of magnetic storm efficiency in producing relativistic electron flux in the Earth’s outer radiation belt using geomagnetic pulsations data

It is well known that during many but not all of the geomagnetic storms enhanced fluxes of high-energy electrons are observed in the outer radiation belt. Here we examine relativistic (>2 MeV) electron fluxes measured by GOES at the synchronous orbit and on-ground observations of two types of ULF pulsations during 30 magnetic storms occurred during 1996–2000. To characterize the effectiveness of the chosen magnetic storms in producing relativistic electron fluxes, following to (Reeves, G.D., McAdams, K.L., Friedel, R.H.W., O’Brien, T.R. Acceleration and loss of relativistic electrons during geomagnetic storms. Geophys. Res. Lett. 30, doi:10.1029/2002GL016513, 2003), we calculate a ratio of the maximum daily-averaged electron flux measured during the recovery phase, to the mean pre-storm electron flux. A storm is considered an effective one if its ratio exceeds 2. We compare behavior of Pi1 and Pc5 geomagnetic pulsations during effective and non-effective storms and find a tendency for a storm efficiency to be higher when the mid-latitude Pi1 pulsations are observed for a long time during the magnetic storm main phase. We note also that the prolonged powerful Pc5 pulsation activity during the recovery phase of a magnetic storm is the necessary condition for the storm effectiveness. To interpret the found dependences, we suggest that there are two prerequisites for generating relativistic electron populations during a storm: (1) the availability of seed electrons in the magnetosphere, and Pi1 emissions are indicators of the mid-energy electron interaction with the ionosphere and (2) acceleration of the seed electrons to MeV energies, and interaction of electrons with the MHD wave activity in the Pc5 range is one of the most probable mechanisms proposed in the literature for this purpose.     

Storm-time formation of a relativistic electron belt and some relevant phenomena in other magnetospheric plasma domains

An empirical formula relating the strength of a storm given by its |Dst|_max with the L-coordinate of the peak of storm-injected relativistic electrons is one of a few well-confirmed quantitative relations found in the magneto-spheric physics. We successively extended a dataset of the formula’s basic storms with several events of high Dst-amplitude up to the highest observed |Dst|_max = 600 nT. Possible applying of the formula to the predicting of the ring-current plasma-pressure distribution and the lowest westward electrojet position for a storm are discussed. We have also analyzed the 2000–2001 years’ data on relativistic electrons from our instruments installed on EXPRESS-A (geosynchronous orbit; E_e = 0.8–6 MeV), Molniya-3 (h = 500 × 40 000 km, i = 63°; E_e = 0.8–5.5 MeV) and GLONASS (h = 20 000 km, i = 64°; E_e  l MeV) along with other correlated measurements: GOES series (E_e > 2 MeV), geomagnetic indices (Dst, AE, AL) and interplanetary parameters (solar wind, IMF). The goal is to investigate which outer conditions are most responsible for the high/low output of the storm-injected relativistic electrons. For the geosynchronous orbit, two factors are found as the necessary condition of the highest electron output: high and long-lasting substorm activity on a storm recovery phase and high velocity of solar wind. On the contrary, extremely low substorm activity surely observed during whole the storm recovery phase constitutes a sufficient condition of the non-increased after-storm electron intensity. For the first time found cases of the increased after-storm electron intensity observed at the inner L-shells with no simultaneously seen increase in the geosynchronous distances are presented.     

Effects on winter circulation of short and long term solar wind changes

Indices of the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Arctic Oscillation show correlations on the day-to-day timescale with the solar wind speed (SWS). Minima in the indices were found on days of SWS minima during years of high stratospheric aerosol loading. The spatial distribution of surface pressure changes during 1963–2011 with day-to-day changes in SWS shows a pattern resembling the NAO. Such a pattern was noted for year-to-year variations by Boberg and Lundstedt (2002), who compared NAO variations with the geo-effective solar wind electric field (the monthly average SWS multiplied by the average southward component, i.e., negative Bz component, of the interplanetary magnetic field). The spatial distribution of the correlations of geopotential height changes in the troposphere and stratosphere with the SWS; the geo-effective electric field (SWS∗Bz); and the solar 10.7 cm flux suggests that solar wind inputs connected to the troposphere via the global electric circuit, together with solar ultraviolet irradiance acting on the stratosphere, affect regional atmospheric dynamics.     

A numerical model approximating extreme energetic electron events involved in the physical and chemical processes of the middle atmosphere

Relativistic electrons (with energies >150 keV) which originate in the outer radiation belt and detected by the Russian ‘Meteor’ series of satellites have been correlated with the atmospheric total ozone data compiled by almost 90 stations located around the world within the latitude zone 40°–70°N. In more than 60% of the stations examined we have detected a clear decrease of the ozone 3–5 days after the electron flux excess. A numerical model has been applied to approximate this effect based on relativistic electron initiated nitric oxides creation in the upper mesosphere with subsequent atmospheric transport (both vertical and horizontal) towards the upper stratosphere. A first attempt of local and temporal prediction of ozone depletion because of energetic electrons impact in the middle atmosphere has been illustrated.     

The thermospheric composition different responses to geomagnetic storm in the winter and summer hemisphere measured by “SZ” Atmospheric Composition Detectors

Three “SZ” Atmospheric Composition Detectors (ACDs) on board spacecraft “SZ-2”, “SZ-3” and “SZ-4” were launched on 10th January 2001, 26th March 2002 and 31st December 2002 separately. A large quantity of thermospheric composition data at the orbital altitude ranging from 330 to 362 km were collected from the in-situ measurement of ACDs. The spacecrafts’ lifetime was just in the second peak period of the 23rd solar cycle which includes two peaks and the solar activity value F_10.7 was from 89 to 228. During this period, several intense geomagnetic disturbances happened.     

The role of ultraviolet imaging in studies of resolved and unresolved young stellar populations. M31 and M33

We discuss the relevance of UV data in the detection and characterization of hot massive stars and young stellar populations in galaxies. We show results from recent extensive surveys in M31 and M33 with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) multi-wavelength data including UV filters, which imaged several regions at a linear resolution (projected) of less than half a pc in these galaxies, and from GALEX far-UV and near-UV wide-field, low-resolution imaging of the entire galaxies. Both datasets allow us to study the hierarchical structure of star formation: the youngest stellar groups are the most compact, and are often arranged within broader, sparser structures. The derived recent star-formation rates are rather similar for the two galaxies, when scaled for the respective areas. We show how uncertainties in metallicity and type of selective extinction for the internal reddening may affect the results, and how an appropriate complement of UV filters could reduce such uncertainties, and significantly alleviate some parameter degeneracies.