Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Pumblechook on 30/07/2009 22:42:56
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.........Maxima why is there such a dramatic effect on the ionosphere?
It seems to become much more ionised. Solar radiation only increases by 0.1% . It might be a little higher in the UV region.
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when people talk about solar radiation they usuall mean electromagnetic radiation ie light and heat. fast particles however chane a great deal when the sun is more active with spots. and that is what increases the ionosphere
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I thought that UV and X-rays are the main creators of the ionosphere. Even when there are CMEs.. Corona Mass Ejections ... massive increase in the solar particles reaching the Earth the ionosphere is highly ionised by the associated UV and X-rays arriving after 8 mins and not the particles arriving later. You can get an aurora when the particles arrive.
Bit shakey on it all really.
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Solar radiation only increases by 0.1%
When you're dealing with something the size of the sun 0.1% is an awful lot in absolute terms.
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This must imply that the radiation of higher energy wavelengths increases a lot more than the 0.1%, overall. (It is only the high energy radiation that will cause ionisation up there).
The link below seems to support the idea.They do suggest that X ray radiation levels may be higher with high sunspot activity. there are Xray images of the Sun, which are far from uniform. However they don't seem to think there is enough supporting evidence for a firm conclusion.
www.exploratorium.edu/sunspots/activity.html (http://www.exploratorium.edu/sunspots/activity.html)
Possibly, the change in ionospheric levels actually constitutes supporting evidence of corellation.