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Large scale solar magnetic fields at the site of Flares, the greatness of flares, and solar‐terrestrial disturbances
Author(s) -
Dodson Helen W.,
Hedeman E. Ruth,
Roelof Edmond C.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl009i003p00199
Subject(s) - solar flare , coronal mass ejection , solar cycle 22 , solar minimum , solar wind , solar maximum , solar cycle , solar cycle 23 , nanoflares , earth's magnetic field , flare , physics , sunspot , solar cycle 24 , geophysics , flux (metallurgy) , magnetic reconnection , astronomy , magnetic field , materials science , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
Major solar flares during 1967‐1970 are significantly more likely to occur in active regions whose inferred overlying large‐scale (∼100,000 km) magnetic flux is oriented preferentially north‐to‐south than for south‐to‐north or indeterminant orientations. This purely solar effect may be the dominant cause of previously reported correlations between southward solar active region magnetic fields and enhancements in geomagnetic disturbances, solar wind velocities and (newly reported here) solar flare proton fluxes. If this effect may be generalized to other portions of the solar cycle, it could offer a fundamental clue to the flare mechanism which should also prove useful in the prediction of solar‐terrestrial disturbances.