Abstract
A very intense geomagnetic storm, the largest observed in 26 years, was observed in early February 1986 having just been preceded by a series of six solar flares during the period 3–7 February. The storm and its antecedent flares are currently a subject of great interest because of the unusually large magnitude of the various geomagnetic effects that obtained. The fact that the flares were moderate to large in soft X-ray intensity, but much smaller than the largest that the Sun is capable of producing, coupled with the fact that these events occurred near the minimum of the current solar activity cycle, adds to the uniqueness of the overall episode.
This paper describes the special circumstances surrounding these events and offers an interpretation of the cause and effect relationships through a numerical simulation of the dynamical evolutionary processes that may have occurred in interplanetary space.
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Garcia, H.A., Dryer, M. The solar flares of February 1986 and the ensuing intense geomagnetic storm. Sol Phys 109, 119–137 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00167403
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00167403