Abstract

Nowadays the systematic study of the possible effect of precipitating high-energy particles on atmospheric physics and chemistry is in great expansion. Most of the recent models studying the precipitating energetic particles effects in the Earth’s atmosphere are based on reliable quantification of the induced ionization, that is, the cosmic ray impact ionization, which is extensively studied over the last decade. While the galactic cosmic rays are the main source of ionization in the Earth’s stratosphere and troposphere, the energetic particles of solar origin can significantly enhance the ion production following strong solar eruptions, specifically over the polar caps. A particular interest represents solar protons observed by ground-based detectors, viz. the so-called ground level enhancements (GLE), observed as an increase of the count rate of e.g. neutron monitors. Here, employing 3-D Monte Carlo model, we computed the solar protons induced atmospheric ionization during the moderate GLE # 71 on 17 May 2012. The ion production rates were computed during various stages of the event as a function of the altitude above sea level using derived by verified model particles spectra. The 24 h averaged ionization effect relative to the average due to the galactic cosmic rays was computed at several depths in the atmosphere.