Middle Atmospheric Impacts Caused by Solar Proton Events

The Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) has been used to study the middle atmospheric (stratospheric and mesospheric) influences of solar proton events (SPEs). SPE-caused polar middle atmospheric effects have been measured by several satellite instruments (e.g., UARS HALOE, ENVISAT MIPAS, NOAA SBUV/2, and POAM III) and will be compared with the WACCM predictions. Some of the very largest SPE periods (e.g., August 1972, October 1989, July 2000, November 2001, Oct./Nov. 2003) caused impacts, which lasted months to over a year past the event period. The long-term SPE-induced polar ozone effects (both destruction and production) after these very large SPE periods can be significant and will be highlighted in this paper.