Hisashi Hayakawa

Abstract In 2024 May, the scientific community observed intense solar eruptions that resulted in a great geomagnetic storm and auroral extensions, highlighting the need to document and quantify these events. This study mainly focuses on their quantification. The source active region (AR; NOAA Active Region 13664) evolved from 113 to 2761 millionths of the solar hemisphere between May 4 and 14. NOAA AR 13664’s magnetic free energy surpassed 10 33 erg on May 7, triggering 12 X-class flares on May

Abstract The Carrington storm (1859 September 1/2) is one of the largest magnetic storms ever observed, and it caused global auroral displays in low-latitude areas, together with a series of multiple magnetic storms from 1859 August 28 to September 4. In this study, we revisit contemporary auroral observation records to extract information on their elevation angle, color, and direction to investigate this stormy interval in detail. We first examine the equatorward boundary of the “auroral emissi

Dim red aurora at low magnetic latitudes is a visual and recognized manifestation of geomagnetic storms. The great low-latitude auroral displays seen throughout East Asia on 16-18 September 1770 are considered to manifest one of the greatest storms. Recently found 111 historical documents in East Asia attest that these low-latitude auroral displays were succeeding for almost 9 nights during 10-19 September 1770 in the lowest magnetic latitude areas (< 30{\deg}). This suggests that the duration o

We evaluate worldwide low-latitude auroral activity associated with the great magnetic storm of September 1909 for which a minimum Dst value of −595 nT has recently been determined. From auroral observations, we calculate that the equatorward boundary of the auroral oval in the 1909 event was in the range from 31°–35° invariant latitude (assuming auroral height of 400 km) to 37°–38° (800 km). These locations compare with satellite-based observations of precipitating auroral electrons down to 40°

Abstract The study of historical great geomagnetic storms is crucial for assessing the possible risks to the technological infrastructure of a modern society, caused by extreme space–weather events. The normal benchmark has been the great geomagnetic storm of 1859 September, the so-called “Carrington Event.” However, there are numerous records of another great geomagnetic storm in 1872 February. This storm, which occurred about 12 years after the Carrington Event, resulted in comparable magnetic

We discuss the significant implications of three eye-witness drawings of the total solar eclipse on 1706 May 12 in comparison with two on 1715 May 3, for our understanding of space climate change. These events took place just after what has been termed the “deep Maunder Minimum” but fall within the “extended Maunder Minimum” being in an interval when the sunspot numbers start to recover. Maria Clara Eimmert’s image in 1706 is particularly important because she was both a highly accomplished astr

Abstract The Maunder Minimum (1645–1715; hereafter MM) is generally considered as the only grand minimum in the chronological coverage of telescopic sunspot observations. Characterized by scarce sunspot occurrences and their asymmetric concentrations in the southern solar hemisphere, the MM has frequently been associated with a special state of solar dynamo activity. As such, it is important to analyze contemporary observational records and improve our understanding of this peculiar interval, wh

Aims . Historical records provide evidence of extreme magnetic storms with equatorward auroral extensions before the epoch of systematic magnetic observations. One significant magnetic storm occurred on February 15, 1730. We scale this magnetic storm with auroral extension and contextualise it based on contemporary solar activity. Methods . We examined historical records in East Asia and computed the magnetic latitude (MLAT) of observational sites to scale magnetic storms. We also compared them

Abstract The Carrington storm in 1859 September has been arguably identified as the greatest geomagnetic storm ever recorded. However, its exact magnitude and chronology remain controversial, while their source data have been derived from the Colaba H magnetometer in India. Here, we have located the Colaba 1859 yearbook, containing hourly measurements and spot measurements. We have reconstructed the Colaba geomagnetic disturbances in the horizontal component (Δ H ), the eastward component (Δ Y )

The Carrington event is considered to be one of the most extreme space weather events in observational history within a series of magnetic storms caused by extreme interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) from a large and complex active region (AR) emerged on the solar disk. In this article, we study the temporal and spatial evolutions of the source sunspot active region and visual aurorae, and compare this storm with other extreme space weather events on the basis of their spatial evolutio

Abstract The Carrington flare in 1859 September is a benchmark, as the earliest reported solar flare and as an event with one of the greatest terrestrial impacts. To date, no rigorous estimate of the energy of this flare has been made on the basis of the only direct observation available, its white-light emission. Here, we exploit the historical observations to obtain a magnitude estimate and express it in terms of its GOES soft X-ray class. From Carrington’s original drawings, we estimated the

ABSTRACT Major solar eruptions occasionally cause magnetic superstorms on the Earth. Despite their serious consequences, the low frequency of their occurrence provides us with only limited cases through modern instrumental observations, and the intensities of historical storms before the coverage of the Dst index have been only sporadically estimated. Herein, we examine a solar-terrestrial storm that occurred in 1946 March and quantitatively evaluate its parameters. During the ascending phase of

ABSTRACT The solar activity during the Maunder minimum (MM; 1645–1715) has been considered significantly different from the one captured in modern observations, in terms of sunspot group number and sunspot positions, whereas its actual amplitudes and distributions are still under active discussions. In its core period (1650/1660–1700), Martin Fogelius and Heinrich Siverus have formed significant long-term series in the existing data bases. With numerous spotless days, they have been considered a

ABSTRACT In late 1940 March, at least five significant solar flares were reported. They likely launched interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), and were associated with one of the largest storm sudden commencements (SSCs) since 1868, resulting in space weather hazards that would have significant societal impacts should it occur today. The initial solar activity is associated with a solar proton event. Afterwards, another flare was reported in the eastern solar quadrant (N12 E37-38) at 11: