Long-term Measurements of Solar Proton Fluxes (1963-present) and the Subsequent Impact on Stratospheric Constituents

The fluxes of solar protons have been measured by satellites for over forty years (1963-present). Eight Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) satellites measured solar proton fluxes from 1963-1993 and five NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) were used for the period 1994present. These high energy solar protons precipitate on the Earth's polar atmosphere sporadically, especially during solar proton events (SPEs), which typically last a few days. Solar protons with energies greater than 30 MeV are capable of reaching the stratosphere and causing increases in odd hydrogen (HOx) and odd nitrogen (NOy) constituents at polar latitudes (greater than 60 degrees geomagnetic). The enhanced HOx leads to short-lived ozone depletion (-days) due to the short lifetime of HOx constituents. The enhanced NOy leads to long-lived ozone changes because of the long lifetime of the NOy family in the stratosphere. Several very large SPEs (August 1972, August and October 1989, July and November 2000, September and November 2001, and October 2003) over the 1963-2004 time period were simulated in the GSFC two-dimensional chemistry and transport model and were predicted to cause significant polar upper stratospheric ozone depletion greater than 10%, which lasted for several weeks past the events. Several satellite instruments (BUV, SBUV, SBW/2, SAGE II, HALOE, etc.) have shown constituent changes as a result of SPEs. Long-term (greater than 40 year) model simulations of the influence of the solar protons and satellite measurements during and after some of the very large SPEs will be shown.