An observation of the ozone response to a magnetic cloud: A case study

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An observation of the ozone response to a magnetic cloud: A case study

Sivla, William Tafon / Ogunjobi, Olakunle / Mtumela, Zolile / Okoro, Eucharia Chidi

Abstract At midlatitudes ( $40 ° - 65 ° S$ ), stratospheric ozone loss has been linked to a variety of physico-chemical effects. In this study, however, we examine how ozone responded to a fortuitous magnetic cloud (MC)-triggered storm on 20 November 2003 using a synthesis of multiple platform approach. We employed this approach to predict how energetic particles interact with the atmosphere by determining realistic NOx production rates without having to run a full ion chemistry model. Using simplified numerical approximations and synthetic satellite observations, we found that this method of ion pair production might be more economical in terms of numerical cost. Following three days of MC, the tendency for ozone reduction became apparent. According to this study, relativistic electron microbursts may promote particle precipitation, which in turn induced the occurrence of ${NO}_{x}$ around 55 km midlatitude. This corroborates the hypothesis that existing electron precipitation proxies, which do not yet take relativistic microburst energies into account, are likely overlooking a significant source of precipitation that affects atmospheric ozone levels.