THE MAJOR GEOEFFECTIVE SOLAR ERUPTIONS OF 2012 MARCH 7: COMPREHENSIVE SUN-TO-EARTH ANALYSIS

Journal Article · Wed Jan 20 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/817/1/14· OSTI ID:22521685

Patsourakos, S.; Nindos, A.; Kouloumvakos, A. ^[1]; Georgoulis, M. K.; Gontikakis, C.; Moraitis, K.; Syntelis, P. ^[2]; Vourlidas, A. ^[3]; Sarris, T.; Anagnostopoulos, G.; Iliopoulos, A. C.; Pavlos, G.; Sarafopoulos, D. ^[4]; Anastasiadis, A.; Tsironis, C. ^[5]; Chintzoglou, G. ^[6]; Daglis, I. A.; Katsavrias, C. ^[7]; Hatzigeorgiu, N. ^[8]; Nieves-Chinchilla, T. ^[9] ; others, and

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1. University of Ioannina, Department of Physics, Section of Astrogeophysics, Ioannina (Greece)
2. Research Center for Astronomy and Applied Mathematics, Academy of Athens, Athens (Greece)
3. Space Physics Division, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD (United States)
4. Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Xanthi (Greece)
5. IAASARS, National Observatory of Athens, GR-15236 Penteli (Greece)
6. School of Physics, Astronomy and Computational Sciences, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, MSN 6A2, Fairfax, VA 22030 (United States)
7. Department of Physics, University of Athens (Greece)
8. University of California, Berkeley, Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450 (United States)
9. IACS/CUA at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Heliospheric Physics Lab, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)

During the interval 2012 March 7–11 the geospace experienced a barrage of intense space weather phenomena including the second largest geomagnetic storm of solar cycle 24 so far. Significant ultra-low-frequency wave enhancements and relativistic-electron dropouts in the radiation belts, as well as strong energetic-electron injection events in the magnetosphere were observed. These phenomena were ultimately associated with two ultra-fast (>2000 km s{sup −1}) coronal mass ejections (CMEs), linked to two X-class flares launched on early 2012 March 7. Given that both powerful events originated from solar active region NOAA 11429 and their onsets were separated by less than an hour, the analysis of the two events and the determination of solar causes and geospace effects are rather challenging. Using satellite data from a flotilla of solar, heliospheric and magnetospheric missions a synergistic Sun-to-Earth study of diverse observational solar, interplanetary and magnetospheric data sets was performed. It was found that only the second CME was Earth-directed. Using a novel method, we estimated its near-Sun magnetic field at 13 R{sub ⊙} to be in the range [0.01, 0.16] G. Steep radial fall-offs of the near-Sun CME magnetic field are required to match the magnetic fields of the corresponding interplanetary CME (ICME) at 1 AU. Perturbed upstream solar-wind conditions, as resulting from the shock associated with the Earth-directed CME, offer a decent description of its kinematics. The magnetospheric compression caused by the arrival at 1 AU of the shock associated with the ICME was a key factor for radiation-belt dynamics.

• OSTI ID: 22521685
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 817, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COMPRESSION
ERUPTION
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC STORMS
MASS
RADIATION BELTS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SATELLITES
SOLAR CYCLE
SOLAR WIND
SPACE
SUN
TAIL ELECTRONS