Modeling atmospheric effects of the September 1859 Solar Flare

• Main Authors: Thomas, B, Jackman, C, Melott, A
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: Astrophysics and Astronomy; Greenland; Greenland ice cores; ice core
• Online Access: http://cds.cern.ch/record/1007334

We have modeled atmospheric effects, especially ozone depletion, due to a solar proton event which probably accompanied the extreme magnetic storm of 1-2 September 1859. We use an inferred proton fluence for this event as estimated from nitrate levels in Greenland ice cores. We present results showing production of odd nitrogen compounds and their impact on ozone. We also compute rainout of nitrate in our model and compare to values from ice core data.