East Asian Observations of Low Latitude Aurora during the Carrington Magnetic Storm

TL;DR

This study analyzes East Asian records of low-latitude auroras during the 1859 Carrington magnetic storm, revealing new observations of aurora activity and a wider aurora belt than typical low-latitude events.

Contribution

It provides new East Asian aurora records from the 1859 storm, enhancing understanding of the storm's low-latitude aurora extent and activity.

Findings

New East Asian low-latitude aurora records identified.

Aurora belt during the second storm peak was wider than usual.

Aurora activity persisted at low latitudes after the main storm.

Abstract

The magnetic storm around 1859 September 2, caused by so-called Carrington flare, was the most intense in the history of modern scientific observations, and hence is considered to be the benchmark event for space weather. The magnetic storm caused worldwide observations of auroras even at very low latitudes such as Hawaii, Panama, or Santiago, and the available magnetic field measurement at Bombay, India, showed two peaks: the main was the Carrington event which occurred in day time in East Asia, and a second storm after the Carrington event which occurred at night in East Asia. In this paper, we present a result from surveys of aurora records in East Asia, which provides new information of the aurora activity of this important event. We found some new East Asian records of low latitude aurora observations caused by the storm which occurred after the Carrington event. The size of the aurora belt of the second peak of the Carrington magnetic storm was even wider than usual low-latitude aurora events.