Effect of a solar flare on a traveling atmospheric disturbance

Abstract

It is known that the sudden injection of energy during geomagnetic storms can excite atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs) or traveling atmospheric disturbances (TADs). Together with large‐scale circulation, these AGWs/TADs transport energy and momentum away from their sources. In this paper, we investigate possible involvement of AGWs/TADs during solar flares. Model simulations of an X17 flare that occurred on October 28, 2003 shows that AGWs/TADS contributed to flare energy transport from the sunlit South‐Pole region to the nightside equatorial region in 3–4 h, resulting in ∼10% nightside equatorial neutral density enhancement in the upper thermosphere. These nightside AGWs/TADs have a phase speed on the order of ∼750 m/s and a horizontal wavelength on the order of 4000 km. Enhanced solar heating to the thermosphere through enhanced ionization during flares occurs on the entire dayside, with the spatial scale of the increased solar heating being too large to excite AGWs/TADs. Further analysis revealed that strong localized enhancement of Joule heating was produced during the October 28, 2003 flare. This sudden injection of the localized heating, together with preexisting AGWs/TADs excited by moderate geomagnetic activity prior to the flare, produced intensified AGWs/TADs, which propagated energy and momentum to the equatorial region. On the other hand, model simulations showed that, under assumed geomagnetically quiet conditions, strong localized enhancement of Joule heating and AGWs/TADs were not produced during the flare. This interplay between geomagnetic activity and solar flares can be a challenge to space weather monitoring, specification, and forecasting.