Inclined Zenith Aurora over Kyoto on 17 September 1770: Graphical Evidence of Extreme Magnetic Storm

Kataoka, Ryuho; Iwahashi, Kiyomi

doi:10.1002/2017sw001690

Cited by 23 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In agreement with Lakhina et al (), we see the August 1972 storm as part of a grand challenge to understand the scope, frequency, and impacts of Carrington‐class events (see references in Cliver, ; Ebihara et al, , Kataoka & Iwahashi, , and Hayakawa et al, for possible additional events). Silverman and Cliver () suggest the 14–15 May 1921 storm as a Carrington‐class storm in the twentieth century.…”

Section: Commentary: Benchmarking and A Grand Challengesupporting

confidence: 90%

On the Little‐Known Consequences of the 4 August 1972 Ultra‐Fast Coronal Mass Ejecta: Facts, Commentary, and Call to Action

et al. 2018

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Today the extreme space weather events of early August 1972 are discussed as benchmarks for Sun-Earth transit times of solar ejecta (14.6 hr) and for solar energetic particle fluxes (10 MeV ion flux >70,000 cm À2 ·s À1 ·sr À1 ). Although the magnetic storm index, Dst, dipped to only À125 nT, the magnetopause was observed within 5.2 R E and the plasmapause within 2 R E . Widespread electric-and communication-grid disturbances plagued North America late on 4 August. There was an additional effect, long buried in the Vietnam War archives that add credence to the severity of the storm impact: a nearly instantaneous, unintended detonation of dozens of sea mines south of Hai Phong, North Vietnam on 4 August 1972. The U.S. Navy attributed the dramatic event to magnetic perturbations of solar storms. Herein we discuss how such a finding is broadly consistent with terrestrial effects and technological impacts of the 4 August 1972 event and the propagation of major eruptive activity from the Sun to the Earth. We also provide insight into the solar, geophysical, and military circumstances of this extraordinary situation. In our view this storm deserves a scientific revisit as a grand challenge for the space weather community, as it provides space-age terrestrial observations of what was likely a Carrington-class storm.

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Section: Commentary: Benchmarking and A Grand Challengesupporting

confidence: 90%

On the Little‐Known Consequences of the 4 August 1972 Ultra‐Fast Coronal Mass Ejecta: Facts, Commentary, and Call to Action

et al. 2018

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“…Here, we discuss the possibility that the fan-shaped aurora of the February 11, 1958 event, as highlighted in this study, is a fundamental characteristic of the middle-latitude evening-to-midnight sector auroras during great magnetic storms. Kataoka & Iwahashi (2017) recently suggested that the fan-shaped aurora of the September 1770 event was a huge aurora covering a significantly large portion of the northern sky and that it appeared at the evening-to-midnight sector. Moreover, the huge fan-shaped appearance was due to the geometrically looking-up location of a series of tall columns aligned with the inclined magnetic field of the middle latitude.…”

Section: Pre-midnight Middle-latitude and Large-scale Aurorasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, understanding such auroras may help mitigate the possible natural hazard they bring. Recent studies revealed that an impressive fan-shaped aurora, characterized by a red glow and white pillars, appeared over Kyoto during the historically greatest magnetic storm on September 17, 1770 (Kataoka & Iwahashi, 2017). The magnetospheric and ionospheric current system to create the bright white pillars of the September 1770 event infers the possible existence of large geomagnetically induced currents even in middle latitudes during great magnetic storms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fan-shaped aurora as seen from Japan during a great magnetic storm on February 11, 1958

Kataoka

Uchino

Fujiwara

et al. 2019

J. Space Weather Space Clim.

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During a great magnetic storm on Feb 11, 1958, a fan-shaped aurora was photographed at Memambetsu, Hokkaido, Japan – the first and oldest photograph record of auroras observed in Japan, accompanied by many hand-made drawings, thus, portraying a rare opportunity of coexistence between photograph images and hand-made drawings. In fact, the same portrayal reminds us of the great red aurora with fan-shaped white pillars observed during the 1872 and 1770 great magnetic storms. The hand-made sketches, photographs, and the spectral data revealed that the white pillars and red glow of the fan-shaped aurora were dominated by auroral green and red lines, respectively. From the analysis of newly digitized microfilm data and hand-made drawings, we found that the fan-shaped aurora appeared during the peak activity of magnetic storm and moved westward at 0.4 km/s at 400-km altitude at 38°–40° magnetic latitudes, which is consistent with the enhanced convection pattern in the middle latitude at storm time. Such a fan-shaped aurora can fundamentally characterize the middle-latitude evening-to-midnight auroras during great magnetic storms, which show the most destabilized transient appearance of the inner magnetosphere.

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“…Besides, Vaquero et al () report a possible case of sporadic aurora in Mexico on 19 April 1843. We point out also that, to our knowledge, there are no reports in Mexico of the low‐latitude red aurora registered in Asia in September 1770 (Ebihara et al, ; Hayakawa et al, ; Kataoka & Iwahashi, ; Nakazawa et al, ; Willis et al, ) nor for the aurora in October 1870 (Vaquero et al, ).…”

Section: Observations Of the 1859 Aurora In Mexicomentioning

confidence: 67%

Observations of Low‐Latitude Red Aurora in Mexico During the 1859 Carrington Geomagnetic Storm

González-Esparza

Cuevas-Cardona

2018

Space Weather

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One of the most intense geomagnetic storm that has been documented in recent history occurred on 1 September 1859. This storm is known as the Carrington Event. In the morning of 1 September at around 11:15 UT, Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson observed in England, independently and for the first time, an intense white light solar flare. About 17 hr after this solar event, there occurred the strongest geomagnetic perturbation ever recorded as well as a greatly extended red aurora, which covered unusually at low latitudes. The red auroral display on 2 September was reported in regions where this kind of phenomena is very rare, like in Cuba and Hawaii. Until now however, it was not known to scientists that the low‐latitude red aurora is also registered in Mexico. At that time, Mexico was in a civil war, and there were very difficult conditions in where to establish astronomical and magnetic observatories. Nevertheless, the geomagnetic storm was observed with a maximum intensity between 7:00 and 8:00 UTC and was reported to a Mexican newspaper from five different locations (Mexico City, Querétaro, Guadalajara, Hidalgo, and Guanajuato) and registered also from at least in two additional sites (Michoacán and San Luis Potosí) in other historical documents. These records confirm that the Carrington geomagnetic storm was a global event with planetary repercussions, and that the Mexican low‐latitude region is susceptible to significant effects associated with intense space weather events.

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Inclined Zenith Aurora over Kyoto on 17 September 1770: Graphical Evidence of Extreme Magnetic Storm

Cited by 23 publications

References 29 publications

On the Little‐Known Consequences of the 4 August 1972 Ultra‐Fast Coronal Mass Ejecta: Facts, Commentary, and Call to Action

On the Little‐Known Consequences of the 4 August 1972 Ultra‐Fast Coronal Mass Ejecta: Facts, Commentary, and Call to Action

Fan-shaped aurora as seen from Japan during a great magnetic storm on February 11, 1958

Observations of Low‐Latitude Red Aurora in Mexico During the 1859 Carrington Geomagnetic Storm

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