Geomagnetic activity: A case study of solar proton events
Abstract
The study is about the geomagnetic activity a case study of SPEs and their interaction with
the atmosphere. In this study, we go ahead and discuss the far reaching consequences of SPEs
on the atmosphere the case of reducing the ozone layer through formation of odd hydrogenHOx
and odd nitrogenNOxthat catalystically destroy the ozone. The ozone layer shelters us from
dangerous radiations form the sun whose depletion directly exposes us to these radiation. Also
expected examples of artificial ozone depleting activities other than SPEs. Besides artificial
causes of ozone depletion like the manufactured chemicals especially halocarbons, and chrolofluorocarbons. Also, expected in this study is the origin of solar protons, their transport to the
earth and their effects on the ozone layer. Solar protons are positively charged ions carried
by solar wind especially during a geomagnetic storm into the interplannetary space where they
together with electrons interact with the planets having magnetic fields creating SPEs for the
case of protons which is the pivot of the study. Incorporating several evidence from various
publication by a variety of scholars, this study shows that the solar protons do destroy the
ozone layer exposing our atmosphere to harmful radiations like ultraviolent radiations which
have far reaching consequences on life such as skin cancer, immune suppression and eye damage.The study is achieved by using a Timeseries method on the month of July 2017 where we
use geomagnetic indices of dst,ae and kp in addition to the solar wind parameters of solarwind
flow speed, solarwind number density and solarwind pressure which all do show the signature of
solar protons in the month of July 2017 as yet to be discussed.