Analysis of intermittency in submillimeter radio and hard x-ray data during the impulsive phase of a solar flare

We present an analysis of intermittent processes occurring during the impulsive phase of the flare SOL2012-03-13, using hard X-rays and submillimeter radio data. Intermittency is a key characteristic in turbulent plasmas and has so far only been analyzed for hard X-ray data. Since in a typical flare the same accelerated electron population is believed to produce both hard X-rays and gyrosynchrotron radiation, we compare the two time profiles by searching for intermittency signatures. For this, we define a cross-wavelet power spectrum, which is used to obtain the local intermittency measure, or LIMLIM. When greater than three, the square LIMLIM coefficients indicate a local intermittent process. The LIM2LIM2 coefficient distribution in time and scale helps to identify avalanche or cascade energy release processes. We find two different and well-separated intermittent behaviors in the submillimeter data: for scales greater than 20 s, a broad distribution during the rising and maximum phases of the emission seems to favor a cascade process; for scales below 1 s, short pulses centered on the peak time are representative of avalanches. When applying the same analysis to hard X-rays, we find that only the scales above 10 s produce a distribution related to a cascade energy fragmentation. Our results suggest that different acceleration mechanisms are responsible for tens of keV and MeV energy ranges of electrons

Ionospheric perturbations in possible association with the 2010 Haiti earthquake, as based on medium-distance subionospheric VLF propagation data

Ionospheric perturbations in possible association with the 2010 Haiti earthquake occurred on 12 January 2010 (with a magnitude of 7.0 and depth of 10 km) are investigated on the basis of subionospheric propagation data from the NAA transmitter on the east coast of the USA to a VLF receiving station in Peru. The local nighttime VLF amplitude data are extensively investigated during the period from the beginning of October 2009 to the end of March 2010, in which the trend (nighttime average amplitude), dispersion and nighttime fluctuation are analysed. It is found that a clear precursory ionosphere perturbation is detected just around New Years day of 2010, about 12 days before the main shock, which is characterised by the simultaneous decrease in the trend and the increases in dispersion and nighttime fluctuation. An additional finding might be the presence of the effect of the Earth's tide one and two months before the main shock, which can only be seen for a huge EQ

Analysis of cosmic ray variations observed by the CARPET in association with solar flares in 2011-2012

The CARPET cosmic ray detector was installed on April 2006 at CASLEO (Complejo Astronmico El Leoncito) at the Argentinean Andes (31.8S, 69.3W, 2550 m, Rc=9.65 GV). This instrument was developed within an international cooperation between the Lebedev Physical Institute RAS (LPI; Russia), the Centro de Radio Astronomia e Astrofsica Mackenzie (CRAAM; Brazil) and the Complejo Astronmico el Leoncito (CASLEO; Argentina). In this paper we present results of analysis of cosmic ray variations recorded by the CARPET during increased solar flare activity in 2011-2012. Available solar and interplanetary medium observational data obtained onboard GOES, FERMI, ISS, as well as cosmic ray measurements by ground-based neutron monitor network were also used in the present analysis.Fil: Makhmutov, V.. Lebedev Physical Institute; Rusia. Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie; BrasilFil: Raulin, J. P.. Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie; BrasilFil: De Mendonca, R. R. S.. National Institute for Space Research; BrasilFil: Bazilevskaya, G. A.. Lebedev Physical Institute; RusiaFil: Correia, E.. Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie; Brasil. National Institute for Space Research; BrasilFil: Kaufmann, Pierre. Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie; BrasilFil: Marun, Adolfo Hector. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito"; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez, German Enzo Leonel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito"; ArgentinaFil: Echer, E.. National Institute for Space Research; Brasi

The 6 September 2017 X9 super flare observed from submillimeter to mid-IR

Active Region 12673 is the most productive active region of solar cycle 24: in a few days of early September 2017, four X‐class and 27 M‐class flares occurred. SOL2017‐09‐06T12:00, an X9.3 flare also produced a two‐ribbon white light emission across the sunspot detected by Solar Dynamics Orbiter/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager. The flare was observed at 212 and 405 GHz with the arcminute‐sized beams of the Solar Submillimeter Telescope focal array while making a solar map and at 10 μm, with a 17 arcsec diffraction‐limited infrared camera. Images at 10 μm revealed that the sunspot gradually increased in brightness while the event proceeded, reaching a temperature similar to quiet Sun values. From the images we derive a lower bound limit of 180‐K flare peak excess brightness temperature or 7,000 sfu if we consider a similar size as the white light source. The rising phase of mid‐IR and white light is similar, although the latter decays faster, and the maximum of the mid‐IR and white light emission is ∼200 s delayed from the 15.4‐GHz peak occurrence. The submillimeter spectrum has a different origin than that of microwaves from 1 to 15 GHz, although it is not possible to draw a definitive conclusion about its emitting mechanism

Comparison of 30 THz impulsive burst time development to microwaves, H-alpha, EUV, and GOES soft X-rays

The recent discovery of impulsive solar burst emission in the 30 THz band is raising new interpretation challenges. One event associated with a GOES M2 class flare has been observed simultaneously in microwaves, H-alpha, EUV, and soft X-ray bands. Although these new observations confirm some features found in the two prior known events, they exhibit time profile structure discrepancies between 30 THz, microwaves, and hard X-rays (as inferred from the Neupert effect). These results suggest a more complex relationship between 30 THz emission and radiation produced at other wavelength ranges. The multiple frequency emissions in the impulsive phase are likely to be produced at a common flaring site lower in the chromosphere. The 30 THz burst emission may be either part of a nonthermal radiation mechanism or due to the rapid thermal response to a beam of high-energy particles bombarding the dense solar atmosphere.Comment: accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysic

A bright impulsive solar burst detected at 30 THz

Ground- and space-based observations of solar flares from radio wavelengths to gamma-rays have produced considerable insights but raised several unsolved controversies. The last unexplored wavelength frontier for solar flares is in the range of submillimeter and infrared wavelengths. Here we report the detection of an intense impulsive burst at 30 THz using a new imaging system. The 30 THz emission exhibited remarkable time coincidence with peaks observed at microwave, mm/submm, visible, EUV and hard X-ray wavelengths. The emission location coincides with a very weak white-light feature, and is consistent with heating below the temperature minimum in the atmosphere. However, there are problems in attributing the heating to accelerated electrons. The peak 30 THz flux is several times larger than the usual microwave peak near 9 GHz, attributed to non-thermal electrons in the corona. The 30 THz emission could be consistent with an optically thick spectrum increasing from low to high frequencies. It might be part of the same spectral component found at sub-THz frequencies whose nature remains mysterious. Further observations at these wavelengths will provide a new window for flare studies.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journal, March 23, 201

Analysis of atmospheric pressure and temperature effects on cosmic ray measurements

In this paper, we analyze atmospheric pressure and temperature effects on the records of the cosmic ray detector CARPET. This detector has monitored secondary cosmic ray intensity since 2006 at Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito (San Juan, Argentina, 31S, 69W, 2550m over sea level) where the geomagnetic rigidity cutoff, Rc, is ~9.8 GV. From the correlation between atmospheric pressure deviations and relative cosmic ray variations, we obtain a barometric coefficient of ?0.440.01 %/hPa. Once the data are corrected for atmospheric pressure, they are used to analyze temperature effects using four methods. Three methods are based on the surface temperature and the temperature at the altitude of maximum production of secondary cosmic rays. The fourth method, the integral method, takes into account the temperature height profile between 14 and 111 km above Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito. The results obtained from these four methods are compared on different time scales from seasonal time variations to scales related to the solar activity cycle. Our conclusion is that the integral method leads to better results to remove the temperature effect of the cosmic ray intensity observed at ground level.Fil: De Mendonça, R. R. S.. National Institute for Space Research. Division of Space Geophysics; Brasil;Fil: Raulin, J. P.. Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie; Brasil;Fil: Echer, E.. National Institute for Space Research. Division of Space Geophysics; Brasil;Fil: Makhmutov, V. S.. Russian Academy of Sciences. Lebedev Physical Institute; Rusia;Fil: Fernandez, German Enzo Leonel. Consejo Nacional de Invest.cientif.y Tecnicas. Ctro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - San Juan. Complejo Astronomico

First Very Low Frequency detection of short repeated bursts from magnetar SGR J1550-5418

We report on the first detection of ionospheric disturbances caused by short repeated gamma-ray bursts from the magnetar SGR J1550-5418. Very low frequency (VLF) radio wave data obtained in South America clearly show sudden amplitude and phase changes at the corresponding times of eight SGR bursts. Maximum amplitude and phase changes of the VLF signals appear to be correlated with the gamma-ray fluence. On the other hand, VLF recovery timescales do not show any significant correlation with the fluence, possibly suggesting that the bursts' spectra are not similar to each other. In summary, the Earth's ionosphere can be used as a very large gamma-ray detector and the VLF observations provide us with a new method to monitor high energy astrophysical phenomena without interruption such as Earth Occultation.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted by ApJ

A global atmospheric electricity monitoring network for climate and geophysical research

The Global atmospheric Electric Circuit (GEC) is a fundamental coupling network of the climate system connecting electrically disturbed weather regions with fair weather regions across the planet. The GEC sustains the fair weather electric field (or potential gradient, PG) which is present globally and can be measured routinely at the surface using durable instrumentation such as modern electric field mills, which are now widely deployed internationally. In contrast to lightning or magnetic fields, fair weather PG cannot be measured remotely. Despite the existence of many PG datasets (both contemporary and historical), few attempts have been made to coordinate and integrate these fragmented surface measurements within a global framework. Such a synthesis is important elvinin order to fully study major influences on the GEC such as climate variations and space weather effects, as well as more local atmospheric electrical processes such as cloud electrification, lightning initiation, and dust and aerosol charging. The GloCAEM (Global Coordination of Atmospheric Electricity Measurements) project has brought together experts in atmospheric electricity to make the first steps towards an effective global network for atmospheric electricity monitoring, which will provide data in near real time. Data from all sites are available in identically-formatted files, at both one second and one minute temporal resolution, along with meteorological data (wherever available) for ease of interpretation of electrical measurements. This work describes the details of the GloCAEM database and presents what is likely to be the largest single analysis of PG data performed from multiple datasets at geographically distinct locations. Analysis of the diurnal variation in PG from all 17 GloCAEM sites demonstrates that the majority of sites show two daily maxima, characteristic of local influences on the PG, such as the sunrise effect. Data analysis methods to minimise such effects are presented and recommendations provided on the most suitable GloCAEM sites for the study of various scientific phenomena. The use of the dataset for a further understanding of the GEC is also demonstrated, in particular for more detailed characterization of day-to-day global circuit variability. Such coordinated effort enables deeper insight into PG phenomenology which goes beyond single-location PG measurements, providing a simple measurement of global thunderstorm variability on a day-to-day timescale. The creation of the GloCAEM database is likely to enable much more effective study of atmospheric electricity variables than has ever been possible before, which will improve our understanding of the role of atmospheric electricity in the complex processes underlying weather and climate