Monitoring of atmospheric changes related to sun-earth interactions

Abstract

Our upper atmosphere is affected by solar forcing, whose main sources are the ionizing radiation and space weather. The solar ionizing radiation changes in association with the 11-year solar cycle, 27-day rotation and solar flares. VLF soundings have confirmed the solar Lyman-alpha as responsible through the formation and maintenance of the ionized layer of our atmosphere, the ionosphere, which shows variations in close association with the 11-year solar cycle. Excess of X-ray radiation produced during the solar flares, when the solar radiation can increase in order of magnitude, strongly disturbs the lower ionosphere. Ionosphere studies using VLF technique have identified that even very weak solar flares (B2 as X-ray classification from GOES satellite) can be enough to affect the ionosphere during the minimum of solar activity, but this limit increases as the Sun becomes more active. The ionosphere is also affected by forcing coming from the lower-lying atmospheric layers. The influence of the planetary waves of neutral atmosphere origin has been observed, and it is dominant during the local wintertime. The studies have shown the influence of the Sun-earth interaction in the chemistry and dynamics of our atmosphere, and also the exchange of energy between the different atmospheric layers, which might affect the terrestrial and marine environment, especially in the polar region.