Type II radio bursts and space weather phenomena: A statistical study

TL;DR

This study statistically analyzes the relationship between type II radio bursts across different domains and various solar and space weather phenomena during solar cycle 24, revealing strong associations with CMEs and flares.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive statistical correlation between type II radio bursts and multiple space weather events, using data from ground-based and satellite observations.

Findings

Highest occurrence rates with CMEs, flares, filament eruptions, and sunspot configurations.

Weaker relationships with ICMEs, interplanetary shocks, energetic particles, and geomagnetic storms.

Potential applications in improving space weather forecasting models.

Abstract

In this paper, we present for the first time a comprehensive statistical study between type II radio bursts from the metric (m) to the dekameric-hectometric (DH) domain and their associated solar and space weather (SW) phenomena, namely, solar flares (SFs), sunspot (SN) configurations, filament eruptions, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), their interplanetary (IP) counterparts (ICMEs) and shocks, in situ detected particles and geomagnetic storms (GSs). The m-only and m+DH radio signatures are identified from dynamic spectra provided by the ground-based RSTN stations distributed over the globe together with Wind/WAVES satellite data. The DH-only type IIs are adopted from a ready catalog based on Wind/WAVES spacecraft data. We perform the temporal and spatial association between the radio emission and the listed above activity events during solar cycle (SC) 24, separately for the three sub-categories, m-only, m+DH and DH-only type IIs. A quantitative assessment on the occurrence rates is presented as a function of the strength of the specific SW phenomena: highest rates are obtained with CMEs, SFs, filament eruptions, and SN configurations, whereas a much weaker relationship is found with ICMEs, IP shocks, energetic particles, and GSs. The potential of the obtained rates to be used in empirical or physics-based models for SW forecasting is discussed.