On extreme space weather events: Solar eruptions, energetic protons and geomagnetic storms

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the extreme space weather events in the available satellite and ground-based databases and to relate them to other associated or accompanied solar activity events. Solar flares, coronal mass ejections, energetic protons and geomagnetic storms are selected among all manifestations/consequences of solar activity due to their well-known space weather relevance. Long-lasting and freely available data series of these phenomena are preferred. Lists of the top 50 extreme space weather events of each category are compiled. Standard association scheme is employed in order to link a given phenomenon with the remaining ones and, in addition, the procedure is applied when starting from each event type. The relationship between the different events is finally explored in a quantitative manner using association rates and ranking correlations. The results are summarized and discussed.