AbstractUsing high resolution measurements of the impulsive nitrate events in polar ice as identifiers of solar proton events in the past, we have identified 19 events over the period 1561–1950 that equal or exceed the >30MeV fluence measured during the August 1972 episode of solar proton events. The largest nitrate impulsive deposition event (and largest solar proton fluence above 30MeV) occurred in late 1859in time association with the Carrington flare of September 1859. The Carrington flare occurred near the central meridian of the sun; the interplanetary disturbance associated with the solar activity rapidly traveled toward the earth resulting in an extremely large geomagnetic storm commencing within 17.1h of the visual observation of the solar flare. While this event was remarkable by itself, historical records indicate that the Carrington event was part of a sequence of solar activity as an active region traversed the solar disk. We compare the derived omni-directional solar proton fluence for the Carrington event of 1.9×1010cm−2 above 30MeV with the solar proton fluence from the past and from more recent episodes of solar activity. The Carrington event is the largest solar proton event identified in our ∼450 year period, having almost twice the >30MeV solar proton fluence than the second largest event in 1895, and approximately four times the solar proton fluence of the August 1972 events.


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    Title :

    Solar proton events for 450 years: The Carrington event in perspective


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Advances in Space Research ; 38 , 2 ; 232-238


    Publication date :

    2005-02-24


    Size :

    7 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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