Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Statistical Study of Low-Frequency Solar Radio Type III Bursts

  • Published:
Solar Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We have studied low-frequency (45 – 410 MHz) type III solar radio bursts observed using the e-Compound Astronomical Low-cost Low-frequency Instrument for Spectroscopy and Transportable Observatory (e-CALLISTO) spectrometer located at Gauribidanur Radio Observatory, India, during 2013 – 2017. After inspecting 1531 type III bursts we found that 426 bursts were associated with flares, while the others might have been triggered by small scale features/weak energy events present in the solar corona. In this study, we have carried out a statistical analysis of various observational parameters like start time, lower- and upper-frequency cut-offs of type III bursts and their association with flares, variation of such parameters with flare parameters such as location, class, onset, and peak times. From this study, we found that most of the high frequency bursts (whose upper-frequency cut-off is \(>350~\mbox{MHz}\)) originate from western longitudes. We interpret that this could be due to the fact that Parker spirals from these longitudes are directed towards the Earth and high frequency bursts are more directive. Further we report that the number of bursts that reach Earth from western longitudes is higher than from eastern longitudes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. http://www.e-callisto.org/.

  2. https://cdaw.gsfc.nasa.gov/CME_list/NOAA/org_events_text/.

  3. https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/space-weather/solar-data/solar-features/solar-flares/x-rays/goes/xrs/.

  4. http://www.lmsal.com/solarsoft/ssw/last_events-2014/.

  5. http://hec.helio-vo.eu/hec/hec_gui.php.

  6. http://www.sidc.be/silso/datafiles.

References

  • Benz, A.O., Monstein, C., Meyer, H., Manoharan, P.K., Ramesh, R., Altyntsev, A., Lara, A., Paez, J., Cho, K.-S.: 2009, A world-wide net of solar radio spectrometers: e-CALLISTO. Earth Moon Planets 104(1 – 4), 277. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Clette, F., Lefèvre, L., Cagnotti, M., Cortesi, S., Bulling, A.: 2016, The revised Brussels-Locarno sunspot number (1981 – 2015). Solar Phys. 291(9 – 10), 2733. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ginzburg, V.L., Zhelezniakov, V.V.: 1958, On the possible mechanisms of sporadic solar radio emission (radiation in an isotropic plasma). Soviet Astron. 2, 653. ADS.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • James, T., Subramanian, P.: 2018, Energetics of small electron acceleration episodes in the solar corona from radio noise storm observations. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 479(2), 1603. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • James, T., Subramanian, P., Kontar, E.P.: 2017, Small electron acceleration episodes in the solar corona. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 471(1), 89. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Kerdraon, A., Delouis, J.-M.: 1997, In: Trottet, G. (ed.) The Nançay Radioheliograph 483, 192. DOI. ADS.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kishore, P., Ramesh, R., Kathiravan, C., Rajalingam, M.: 2015, A low-frequency radio spectropolarimeter for observations of the solar corona. Solar Phys. 290(9), 2409. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Kishore, P., Kathiravan, C., Ramesh, R., Ebenezer, E.: 2017, Coronal magnetic field lines and electrons associated with type III-V radio bursts in a solar flare. J. Astrophys. Astron. 38(2), 24. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Lemen, J.R., Title, A.M., Akin, D.J., Boerner, P.F., Chou, C., Drake, J.F., Duncan, D.W., Edwards, C.G., Friedlaender, F.M., Heyman, G.F., Hurlburt, N.E., Katz, N.L., Kushner, G.D., Levay, M., Lindgren, R.W., Mathur, D.P., McFeaters, E.L., Mitchell, S., Rehse, R.A., Schrijver, C.J., Springer, L.A., Stern, R.A., Tarbell, T.D., Wuelser, J.-P., Wolfson, C.J., Yanari, C., Bookbinder, J.A., Cheimets, P.N., Caldwell, D., Deluca, E.E., Gates, R., Golub, L., Park, S., Podgorski, W.A., Bush, R.I., Scherrer, P.H., Gummin, M.A., Smith, P., Auker, G., Jerram, P., Pool, P., Soufli, R., Windt, D.L., Beardsley, S., Clapp, M., Lang, J., Waltham, N.: 2012, The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Solar Phys. 275(1 – 2), 17. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Melrose, D.B.: 1980, The emission mechanisms for solar radio bursts. Space Sci. Rev. 26(1), 3. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Monstein, C., Ramesh, R., Kathiravan, C.: 2007, Radio spectrum measurements at the Gauribidanur observatory. Bull. Astron. Soc. India 35, 473. ADS.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Mugundhan, V., Ramesh, R., Barve, I.V., Kathiravan, C., Gireesh, G.V.S., Kharb, P., Misra, A.: 2016, Low-frequency radio observations of the solar corona with arcminute angular resolution: Implications for coronal turbulence and weak energy releases. Astrophys. J. 831(2), 154. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Mugundhan, V., Ramesh, R., Kathiravan, C., Gireesh, G.V.S., Kumari, A., Hariharan, K., Barve, I.V.: 2018, The first low-frequency radio observations of the solar corona on \(\approx200~\mbox{km}\) long interferometer baseline. Astrophys. J. Lett. 855(1), L8. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Pesnell, W.D., Thompson, B.J., Chamberlin, P.C.: 2012, The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Solar Phys. 275(1 – 2), 3. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ramesh, R.: 2011, Low frequency solar radio astronomy at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA). Astron. Soc. India Conf. Ser. 2, 55. ADS.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ramesh, R.: 2014, Solar observations at low frequencies with the Gauribidanur radioheliograph. In: Chengalur, J.N., Gupta, Y. (eds.) Metrewavelength Sky, Astron. Soc. India Conf. Ser. 13, 19. ADS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramesh, R., Kathiravan, C., Narayanan, A.S., Ebenezer, E.: 2003, Metric observations of transient, quasi-periodic radio emission from the solar corona in association with a “halo” CME and an “EIT wave” event. Astron. Astrophys. 400, 753. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ramesh, R., Narayanan, A.S., Kathiravan, C., Sastry, C.V., Shankar, N.U.: 2005, An estimation of the plasma parameters in the solar corona using quasi-periodic metric type III radio burst emission. Astron. Astrophys. 431, 353. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ramesh, R., Kathiravan, C., Barve, I.V., Beeharry, G.K., Rajasekara, G.N.: 2010, Radio observations of weak energy releases in the solar corona. Astrophys. J. Lett. 719(1), L41. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ramesh, R., Sasikumar Raja, K., Kathiravan, C., Narayanan, A.S.: 2013, Low-frequency radio observations of picoflare category energy releases in the solar atmosphere. Astrophys. J. 762(2), 89. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Reid, H.A.S., Ratcliffe, H.: 2014, A review of solar type III radio bursts. Res. Astron. Astrophys. 14(7), 773. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Saint-Hilaire, P., Vilmer, N., Kerdraon, A.: 2013, A decade of solar type III radio bursts observed by the Nançay radioheliograph 1998 – 2008. Astrophys. J. 762(1), 60. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Sasikumar Raja, K., Ramesh, R.: 2013, Low-frequency observations of transient quasi-periodic radio emission from the solar atmosphere. Astrophys. J. 775(1), 38. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Sasikumar Raja, K., Subramanian, P., Ananthakrishnan, S., Monstein, C.: 2018, CALLISTO spectrometer at IISER-Pune. arXiv e-prints. arXiv. ADS.

  • Schou, J., Scherrer, P.H., Bush, R.I., Wachter, R., Couvidat, S., Rabello-Soares, M.C., Bogart, R.S., Hoeksema, J.T., Liu, Y., Duvall, T.L., Akin, D.J., Allard, B.A., Miles, J.W., Rairden, R., Shine, R.A., Tarbell, T.D., Title, A.M., Wolfson, C.J., Elmore, D.F., Norton, A.A., Tomczyk, S.: 2012, Design and ground calibration of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Solar Phys. 275(1 – 2), 229. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma, R., Oberoi, D., Arjunwadkar, M.: 2018, Quantifying weak nonthermal solar radio emission at low radio frequencies. Astrophys. J. 852(2), 69. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, D., Sasikumar Raja, K., Subramanian, P., Ramesh, R., Monstein, C.: 2019, Automated detection of solar radio bursts using a statistical method. Solar Phys. 294(8), 112. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, R.T.: 1974, Harmonic ratios of inverted-U type III bursts. Solar Phys. 39(2), 451. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki, S., Sheridan, K.V.: 1982, On the fundamental and harmonic components of low-frequency Type III solar radio bursts. Proc. Astron. Soc. Aust. 4, 382. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • The SunPy Community, Barnes, W.T., Bobra, M.G., Christe, S.D., Freij, N., Hayes, L.A., Ireland, J., Mumford, S., Perez-Suarez, D., Ryan, D.F., Shih, A.Y., Chanda, P., Glogowski, K., Hewett, R., Hughitt, V.K., Hill, A., Hiware, K., Inglis, A., Kirk, M.S.F., Konge, S., Mason, J.P., Maloney, S.A., Murray, S.A., Panda, A., Park, J., Pereira, T.M.D., Reardon, K., Savage, S., Sipőcz, B.M., Stansby, D., Jain, Y., Taylor, G., Yadav, T., Rajul, Dang, T.K.: 2020, The SunPy project: Open source development and status of the version 1.0 core package. Astrophys. J. 890, 68. DOI.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Wild, J.P.: 1950, Observations of the spectrum of high-intensity solar radiation at metre wavelengths. III. Isolated bursts. Aust. J. Sci. Res., Ser. A 3, 541. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Zheleznyakov, V.V., Zaitsev, V.V.: 1970, Contribution to the theory of type III solar radio bursts. I. Soviet Astron. 14, 47. ADS.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Zucca, P., Carley, E.P., McCauley, J., Gallagher, P.T., Monstein, C., McAteer, R.T.J.: 2012, Observations of low frequency solar radio bursts from the Rosse Solar-Terrestrial Observatory. Solar Phys. 280(2), 591. DOI. ADS.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The sunspot number used in this article is credited to WDC-SILSO, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels. This research used version 2.0.1 of the SunPy open source software package (The SunPy Community et al., 2020). We thank the data centre of the e-Callisto network which is hosted by the FHNW, Institute for Data Science, Switzerland. We thank the referee for his constructive suggestions on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astronomy, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500 007, India

    Aroori Mahender & Yellaiah Ganji

  2. Indian Institute of Astrophysics, 2nd Block, Koramangala, Bangalore, 560 034, India

    K. Sasikumar Raja, R. Ramesh & Vemareddy Panditi

  3. Istituto Ricerche Solari Locarno (IRSOL), Via Patocchi - Prato Pernice, 6605, Locarno Monti, Switzerland

    Christian Monstein

Authors
  1. Aroori Mahender
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. K. Sasikumar Raja
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. R. Ramesh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Vemareddy Panditi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Christian Monstein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yellaiah Ganji
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aroori Mahender.

Ethics declarations

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mahender, A., Sasikumar Raja, K., Ramesh, R. et al. A Statistical Study of Low-Frequency Solar Radio Type III Bursts. Sol Phys 295, 153 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-020-01722-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-020-01722-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation