[Paper Review] Solar Radio Bursts and Space Weather

S. M. White|arXiv (Cornell University)|May 2, 2024

Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life43 citations

TL;DR

A survey of solar radio bursts and their relevance to space weather, highlighting how low-frequency emission tracks solar atmospheric events and can diagnose related space weather phenomena using data from the Green Bank Solar Radio Burst Spectrometer.

ABSTRACT

Space Weather is the study of the conditions in the solar wind that can affect life on the surface of the Earth, particularly the increasingly technologically sophisticated devices that are part of modern life. Solar radio observations are relevant to such phenomena because they generally originate as events in the solar atmosphere, including flares, coronal mass ejections and shocks, that produce electromagnetic and particle radiations that impact the Earth. Low frequency solar radio emission arises in the solar atmosphere at the levels where these events occur: we can use frequency as a direct measure of density, and an indirect measure of height, in the atmosphere. The main radio burst types are described and illustrated using data from the Green Bank Solar Radio Burst Spectrometer, and their potential use as diagnostics of Space Weather is discussed.

Motivation & Objective

• Motivate space weather study by connecting solar wind conditions to terrestrial technological systems.
• Explain how solar radio observations originate from flares, CMEs, and shocks in the solar atmosphere.
• Demonstrate how radio burst frequency provides direct density information and indirect height information in the solar atmosphere.
• Illustrate main radio burst types with observational data and discuss their use as space weather diagnostics.

Proposed method

• Describe and illustrate the main radio burst types using data from the Green Bank Solar Radio Burst Spectrometer (GBSRBS).
• Explain the relationship between radio frequency and plasma density, and infer height in the solar atmosphere.
• Discuss the potential of radio burst diagnostics as tools for Space Weather forecasting and monitoring.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 What are the main types of solar radio bursts observed in the low-frequency regime?
• RQ2 How can solar radio burst observations be used to diagnose and forecast Space Weather effects on Earth?
• RQ3 How does radio frequency relate to plasma density and atmospheric height in the context of solar eruptions?

Key findings

• Main radio burst types are described and illustrated using GBSRBS data.
• Low-frequency solar radio emission provides a direct measure of density and an indirect measure of height in the solar atmosphere.
• The paper discusses the potential of these radio bursts as diagnostics for Space Weather phenomena.