Comparison of VLF Signal Responses to Solar Flares along Daytime and Nighttime Propagation Paths

Abstract

Solar flares have a severe impact on the near-earth space environment, during which the VLF signals observed by the ground-based instrument exhibit abnormal changes. However, the similarity and differences of VLF signal responses to solar flares over daytime and nighttime propagation paths are still unclear. Previous magnetograph measurements suggest that solar flares can also influence the dark hemisphere by the induction currents caused by the change in the ionospheric electrical conductivity of the sunlit hemisphere. To examine these effects, we have analyzed the solar flare effects on VLF propagation along two paths that are suited along the north–south direction, but with a time difference of 12 h. From late March to late May in the year of 2022, a total of 32 flare events with clear VLF responses are selected in order to analyze the similarity and differences between daytime and nighttime propagation paths. Different from the previous magnetograph measurements, it is found that the solar flare effects can only be observed from daytime VLF propagation paths. Moreover, present results show that the amplitude and phase variation of the VLF signal increases almost linearly with the magnitude of solar flares, and the stronger the solar flare, the more obvious the influence on VLF signals. However, the two paths exhibit notably different sensitivity in terms of amplitude and phase variation to solar flare class. Future studies that aim at nowcasting solar flare events using ground-based VLF receivers need to take these effects into account. The goal is to better understand the effects of solar flares on the lower ionosphere, with a view toward improving the nowcasting capability of the VLF technique for solar flares.