Extreme solar events
Abstract
Space-based measurements of the most energetic solar events reveal a continuous distribution of ever lower frequency with increasing total energy. These measurements are limited to the past half century, however, so they provide little information on the rarest, most energetic events. The properties of those can only be obtained indirectly by the analysis of radionuclides on Earth and on the Moon, comparison with observations of Sun-like stars, and inferences from four centuries of sunspot observations. These combined records help constrain the frequencies and energies of the most powerful solar storms, but the sparsenes of the data and some inconsistencies in the available information leave us with considerable uncertainties about the most extreme space weather that the Sun can generate.
- Publication:
-
40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014cosp...40E2935S