Extreme solar particle storms : the hostile Sun / Fusa Miyake, Ilya Usoskin and Stepan Poluianov.

"Version: 20191201"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Introduction -- 2. What can be learned from modern data? -- 2.1. Strength of solar flares -- 2.2. Solar particle events -- 2.3. Major geomagnetic storms

3. State-of-the-art theory and modeling -- 3.1. Solar and stellar dynamos -- 3.2. Particle acceleration at the sun

4. Cosmogenic isotopes as proxies for solar energetic particles -- 4.1. What can we learn about SPEs in the past? -- 4.2. Production of cosmogenic isotopes in the atmosphere -- 4.3. Isotope transport -- 4.4. Isotope archiving in ice cores -- 4.5. Lunar archives

5. Measurements of radionuclides -- 5.1. Measurement techniques -- 5.2. Tree rings -- 5.3. Analysis of cosmogenic isotopes recorded in ice cores

6. Characterization of the measured events -- 6.1. Observed SEP events: knowns and unknowns -- 6.2. Reconstruction of energy spectra -- 6.3. Known visual auroral observations -- 6.4. Event statistics and the worst-case scenario

7. Further search for extreme events -- 7.1. Terrestrial cosmogenic isotopes -- 7.2. Historical archival records -- 7.3. Sun-like stars

8. Possible impacts -- 8.1. Environmental effects -- 8.2. Technological and societal effects -- 9. Concluding remarks.

It is becoming increasingly clear that our modern technological society is vulnerable to the impacts of severe solar storms, radiation, particle and geomagnetic disturbances. However, the potential severity of these extreme solar events and their probability of occurring are unknown. What can we expect from the Sun? What could the most severe solar particle storms look like? Does the Sun have an unlimited ability to produce severe storms? Can a destructive "black swan" event occur? Direct solar data covers only several decades, a period too short to answer these questions. Fortunately, other indirect ways to study these possibly rare extreme solar storms have been discovered, paving the way for analysis of these events on the multi-millennial time scale. At present, studies of extreme solar events are growing, forming a new research discipline. This book, written by leaders in the corresponding aspects of the field, presents a first systematic review of the current state of the art.

MSc/PhD level students in Space Physics; researchers in Space Sciences and Astrophysics; Environmental researchers.

Also available in print.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader, EPUB reader, or Kindle reader.

Fusa Miyake was educated at the Division of Particle and Astrophysical Science, Nagoya University. She obtained her PhD at Nagoya University in 2013, and has since worked for the Institute for Advanced Research and Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory (now Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research), Nagoya University. She, together with a team of researchers, discovered the extreme solar events of 775 CE and 993 CE in the cosmogenic isotope (initially in 14C), that formed the field of this book. Ilya Usoskin is a full professor in Space Physics at the University of Oulu and has worked as the head of Oulu Cosmic Ray Station since 2000. He is also the vice-director of ReSoLVE (Research on SOlar Long-term Variability and Effects) Center of Excellence of the Academy of Finland. Ilya received his Cand.Sci degree from the A.F. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute and his PhD from the University of Oulu. His awards include the knighthood (1st class knight) of the Order of the Lion of Finland (2013), Julis Bartels medal (2018) of the European Geosciences Union, and membership in the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters. Stepan Poluianov got his degree at the ITMO (Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics) University in St. Petersburg. He worked at the Polar Geophysical Institute before earning his PhD in Space Physics at the University Oulu, Finland. Stepan continues to work at the University of Oulu, studying cosmic rays and their interaction with matter. In 2019, he became a member of the AMS collaboration that runs the cosmic ray experiment AMS-02 at the International Space Station.

Title from PDF title page (viewed on January 6, 2020).