The Solar Proton Events and the Disturbances of Atmospheric Ozone

The relationship between the solar proton events above importance 1 and the atmospheric ozone content over four latitude regions from 1960 to 1982 is studied in this paper. The results show that the solar proton events of importance 1 and 2 have no influence [O₃] appreciably over middle and low latitude regions. Only the solar proton events of importance 3 can influence [O₃] significantly, and there is obvious latitude effect. The proton events above importance 1 can influence [O₃] over the polar region. The disturbances of [O₃] increase with the increase of importances of the proton events. Usually [O₃] starts decreasing when solar proton events occur and the decrease lasts for several days. The minimum of the decrease occurs on the fourth day after the solar proton event. For reasons given above it is proved that the solar proton event is an important factor disturbing ^-O₃] . The disturbances of [O₃] caused by the solar proton events in winter are more prominent than in summer. The results show the general influence of proton events on [O₃] over different latitudes, and it can be well interpreted theoretically.