Biology
Scientific paper
Jan 1998
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998fsam.conf...91l&link_type=abstract
From the Sun: Auroras Magnetic Storms, Solar Flares, Cosmic Rays, p. 91
Biology
1
Solar Flares, Solar Physics, Solar Activity Effects, Magnetic Fields, Energetic Particles, Activity Cycles (Biology), Waxes, Sunspots, Stellar Mass Ejection, Solar System, Solar Corona, Shock Waves, Particle Accelerators, Interplanetary Medium, Hydrogen, Explosions
Scientific paper
The Sun is the most powerful natural particle accelerator in our solar system, able to accelerate ions to energies of many GeV and electrons to hundreds of MeV. This acceleration occurs as a consequence of transient releases of energy in solar flares and/or coronal mass ejections (CNMS). Solar flares are explosions occurring near sunspots, regions of strong, approx. 103 Gauss, magnetic fields. Traditionally, flares have been detected by ground-based optical observatories as brightenings in the emission of the hydrogen-alpha line. In the largest flares, as much as approx. 1032 ergs is released in approx. 103 seconds. Energy is thought to be stored in the magnetic field and released through some type of instability. Because the number of sunspots waxes and wanes over an approx. 11-year cycle, the frequency of occurrence of flares also varies with this solar activity cycle; the last solar maximum occurred in 1989-1990. CMEs are transient ejections of material from the solar corona-the outer atmosphere of the Sun-into the interplanetary medium. On average, approx. 5 x 1015 g of material are ejected per CME, traveling at speeds of less or equals to 100 km/s to approx. 2000 km/ s. About one-third of all CMEs are traveling fast enough to drive a collisionless shock wave. These shocks appear to be responsible for accelerating some of the solar energetic particles, mostly at energies below a few tens of MeV. Although many large solar flares are accompanied by a fast CME, only a few CMEs accelerate particles in the absence of flares while many flares accelerate particles without CMES. Some of the accelerated particles travel to the near-Earth interplanetary medium where they can be detected by spacecraft. The most energetic of these particles produce effects at the surface of the Earth.
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