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Evidence of an upper ionospheric electric field perturbation correlated with a gamma ray burst.

ABSTRACT: Earth's atmosphere, whose ionization stability plays a fundamental role for the evolution and endurance of life, is exposed to the effect of cosmic explosions producing high energy Gamma-ray-bursts. Being able to abruptly increase the atmospheric ionization, they might deplete stratospheric ozone on a global scale. During the last decades, an average of more than one Gamma-ray-burst per day were recorded. Nevertheless, measurable effects on the ionosphere were rarely observed, in any case on its bottom-side (from about 60 km up to about 350 km of altitude). Here, we report evidence of an intense top-side (about 500 km) ionospheric perturbation induced by significant sudden ionospheric disturbance, and a large variation of the ionospheric electric field at 500 km, which are both correlated with the October 9, 2022 Gamma-ray-burst (GRB221009A).

SUBMITTER: Piersanti M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10646044 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Evidence of an upper ionospheric electric field perturbation correlated with a gamma ray burst.

Piersanti Mirko M Ubertini Pietro P Battiston Roberto R Bazzano Angela A D'Angelo Giulia G Rodi James G JG Diego Piero P Zeren Zhima Z Ammendola Roberto R Badoni Davide D Bartocci Simona S Beolè Stefania S Bertello Igor I Burger William J WJ Campana Donatella D Cicone Antonio A Cipollone Piero P Coli Silvia S Conti Livio L Contin Andrea A Cristoforetti Marco M De Angelis Fabrizio F De Donato Cinzia C De Santis Cristian C Di Luca Andrea A Fiorenza Emiliano E Follega Francesco Maria FM Gebbia Giuseppe G Iuppa Roberto R Lega Alessandro A Lolli Mauro M Martino Bruno B Martucci Matteo M Masciantonio Giuseppe G Mergè Matteo M Mese Marco M Morbidini Alfredo A Neubüser Coralie C Nozzoli Francesco F Nuccilli Fabrizio F Oliva Alberto A Osteria Giuseppe G Palma Francesco F Palmonari Federico F Panico Beatrice B Papini Emanuele E Parmentier Alexandra A Perciballi Stefania S Perfetto Francesco F Perinelli Alessio A Picozza Piergiorgio P Pozzato Michele M Rebustini Gianmaria G Recchiuti Dario D Ricci Ester E Ricci Marco M Ricciarini Sergio B SB Russi Andrea A Sahnoun Zuleika Z Savino Umberto U Scotti Valentina V Shen Xuhui X Sotgiu Alessandro A Sparvoli Roberta R Tofani Silvia S Vertolli Nello N Vilona Veronica V Vitale Vincenzo V Zannoni Ugo U Zoffoli Simona S Zuccon Paolo P

Nature communications 20231114 1

Earth's atmosphere, whose ionization stability plays a fundamental role for the evolution and endurance of life, is exposed to the effect of cosmic explosions producing high energy Gamma-ray-bursts. Being able to abruptly increase the atmospheric ionization, they might deplete stratospheric ozone on a global scale. During the last decades, an average of more than one Gamma-ray-burst per day were recorded. Nevertheless, measurable effects on the ionosphere were rarely observed, in any case on its ...[more]

PMID: 37963921

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Project description:Energetic particles of magnetospheric origin constantly strike the Earth's upper atmosphere in the polar regions, producing optical emissions known as the aurora. The most spectacular auroral displays are associated with recurrent events called magnetospheric substorms (aka auroral substorms). Substorms are initiated in the nightside magnetosphere on closed magnetic field lines. As a consequence, it is generally thought that auroral substorms should occur in both hemispheres on the same field line (i.e., magnetically conjugated). However, such a hypothesis has not been verified statistically. Here, by analyzing 2659 auroral substorms acquired by the Ultraviolet Imager on board the NASA satellite "Polar", we have discovered surprising evidence that the averaged location for substorm onsets is not conjugate but shows a geographic preference that cannot be easily explained by current substorm theories. In the Northern Hemisphere (NH) the auroral substorms occur most frequently in Churchill, Canada (~90°W) and Khatanga, Siberia (~100°E), up to three times as often as in Iceland (~22°W). In the Southern Hemisphere (SH), substorms occur more frequently over a location in the Antarctic ocean (~120°E), up to ~4 times more than over the Antarctic Continent. Such a large difference in the longitudinal distribution of north and south onset defies the common belief that substorms in the NH and SH should be magnetically conjugated. A further analysis indicates that these substorm events occurred more frequently when more of the ionosphere was dark. These geographic areas also coincide with regions where the Earth's magnetic field is largest. These facts suggest that auroral substorms occur more frequently, and perhaps more intensely, when the ionospheric conductivity is lower. With much of the magnetotail energy coming from the solar wind through merging of the interplanetary and Earth's magnetic field, it is generally thought that the occurrence of substorms is externally controlled by the solar wind and plasma instability in the magnetotail. The present study results provide a strong argument that the ionosphere plays a more active role in the occurrence of substorms.

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Evidence of an upper ionospheric electric field perturbation correlated with a gamma ray burst.

Publications

Evidence of an upper ionospheric electric field perturbation correlated with a gamma ray burst.

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