Abstract
Abstract. Atmospheric effects of solar proton events (SPEs) have been studied for decades, because their drastic impact can be used to test our understanding of upper stratospheric and mesospheric chemistry in the polar cap regions. For example, odd hydrogen and odd nitrogen are produced during SPEs, which leads to depletion of ozone in catalytic reactions, such that the effects are easily observed from satellites during the strongest events. Until recently, the complexity of the ion chemistry in the lower ionosphere (i.e., in the D region) has restricted global models to simplified parameterizations of chemical impacts induced by energetic particle precipitation (EPP). Because of this restriction, global models have been unable to correctly reproduce some important effects, such as the increase in mesospheric HNO3 or the changes in chlorine species. Here we use simulations from the WACCM-D model, a variant of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model, to study the statistical response of the atmosphere to the 66 strongest SPEs which occurred in the years 1989–2012. Our model includes a set of D-region ion chemistry, designed for a detailed representation of the atmospheric effects of SPEs and EPP in general. We use superposed epoch analysis to study changes in O3, HOx (OH + HO2), Clx (Cl + ClO), HNO3, NOx (NO + NO2) and H2O. Compared to the standard WACCM which uses an ion chemistry parameterization, WACCM-D produces a larger response in O3 and NOx and a weaker response in HOx and introduces changes in HNO3 and Clx. These differences between WACCM and WACCM-D highlight the importance of including ion chemistry reactions in models used to study EPP.
Highlights
Solar proton events (SPEs) are observed on Earth when highenergy protons accelerated in the sun’s magnetic field during a solar coronal mass ejection strike Earth
Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM)-D is a variant of WACCM in which the standard parameterizations of HOx and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) production are replaced by a set of lower ionospheric photochemistry, with the aim of reproducing better the observed effects of energetic particle precipitation (EPP) on the mesosphere and upper stratosphere neutral composition
We present an analysis of the chemical impacts of SPE on the middle atmosphere using simulations from WACCM
Summary
Solar proton events (SPEs) are observed on Earth when highenergy protons accelerated in the sun’s magnetic field during a solar coronal mass ejection strike Earth. Due to the large number of D-region ions and ionic reactions, atmospheric models have typically included the SPE, or EPP, effects using simple parameterizations of HOx and NOx production. While several of the largest SPEs included in the analysis have previously been studied individually, the statistical approach used here allows for inclusion of a number of moderate-sized events under various background atmosphere and illumination conditions. This approach allows for the identification of climatological effects above natural variability. As the analysis includes SPEs of different sizes occurring during different seasons, a statistical approach is most useful for the study of temporal and spatial extent, rather than magnitude of the response
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