Constraining and validating the Oct/Nov 2003 X‐class EUV flare enhancements with observations of FUV dayglow and E‐region electron densities

Abstract

Near peak activity of two X‐class solar flares, on 28 October and 4 November 2003, the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED)/Solar EUV Experiment (SEE) instrument recorded order of magnitude increases in solar EUV irradiance, the TIMED/Global Ultraviolet Imager (GUVI) observed simultaneous increases in upper atmosphere far ultraviolet (FUV) dayglow, and the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) radar and the Ionospheric Occultation Experiment onboard the PICOSat spacecraft recorded corresponding changes in E‐region electron densities. Calculations of the FUV dayglow and electron density profiles using Version 8 SEE flare spectra overestimate the actual observed increases by more than a factor of 2.0. This prompted the development of an alternative approach that uses the FUV dayglow and associated E‐layer electron density profiles to derive and validate, respectively, the increases in the solar EUV irradiance spectrum. The solar EUV spectrum required to produce the FUV dayglow is specified between 45 and 27 nm by SEE’s EGS measurements, between 27 and 5 nm by GUVI dayglow measurements, and between 5 and 1 nm using a combination of the GOES X‐ray data and the NRLEUV model. The energy fluxes in the 5‐ to 27‐nm bands (at 5–10, 10–15, 15–20, and 20–27 nm) are randomly varied in search of combinations such that the full spectrum (λ < 45 nm) replicates the GUVI dayglow observations. In contrast to the Version 8 SEE XPS observations, solar EUV spectra derived using the multiband yield approach produce electron densities that are consistent with those observed independently. The new multiband yield algorithm thus provides a unique tool for independent validation of solar EUV spectral irradiance measurements using FUV dayglow observations.