Bastille Day solar storm
|
|
| Type | Geomagnetic storm |
|---|---|
| Formed | 14 July 2000 |
| Dissipated | 16 July 2000 |
| Damage | Minor satellite and terrestrial power transformer damage |
| Areas affected | Worldwide |
The Bastille Day solar storm was a powerful solar storm on 14-16 July 2000 during the solar maximum of solar cycle 23. The storm began on the national day of France, Bastille Day. It involved a solar flare, a solar particle event, and a coronal mass ejection which caused a severe geomagnetic storm.[1][2]
Contents
Overview
Solar flare and particle event
On 14 July 2000 from about 10:03 to 10:43 UTC, GOES satellites detected a very strong, X5.7-class, solar flare[Note 1] which peaked in soft X-ray intensity at around 10:24 UTC. This flare originated from the solar active region AR9077 which was located near the center of the Sun's disk (N22 W02) at the time of the flare.[5][6]
Starting at around 10:41 UTC, GOES satellites began detecting a strong, S3, solar particle event[Note 2] associated with the ongoing X5.7-class flare.[1] This resulted in high energy protons penetrating and ionizing parts of the Earth's ionosphere and creating noise in various satellite imaging systems such as in the EIT and LASCO instruments.[3] Some of these particles had sufficient energy to generate effects measured on Earth's surface, an event referred to as a ground level enhancement. Although the flare was not extremely large, the associated solar particle event was the fourth largest since 1967.[6]
Geomagnetic storm
The detection of the solar flare was also followed by the detection of a halo, or Earth-directed, coronal mass ejection (CME) in coronagraph data starting at 10:54 UTC.[3] This CME reached Earth on 15 July causing a geomagnetic storm on 15-16 July which would reach a peak Kp index of 9+ in the late hours of 15 July corresponding to an extreme-level, or G5, geomagnetic storm[Note 3] and register a peak Dst of −301 nT. The storm caused minor damage to power transformers and satellites.[9] It was also one of only two solar storms having registered a maximum Kp of 9+ since the March 1989 geomagnetic storm, the other being the 2003 Halloween solar storms.[10]
Aftermath
Due to being the first major solar storm since the launch of various solar-monitoring satellites, the Bastille Day event proved important towards helping scientists piece together a general theory of how eruptions on the sun occur as well as protecting the Earth from a larger event, such as a Carrington-class event, some day in the future.[11]
Despite their great distance from the Sun, the Bastille Day event was observed by Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.[12]
See also
Notes
References
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External links
- 'Bastille Day' Flare Animations
- Propagation of Bastille Day Event to Voyagers 1 & 2
- High-Energy Ions Energized by Bastille Day 2000 Shock Bombardment
- Ulysses Observations of Solar Energetic Particles From the Bastille Day Event
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