Extreme solar storms based on solar magnetic field

Brigitte Schmieder

Published 2017-08-05Version 1

Many questions have to be answered before understanding the relationship between the emerging magnetic flux through the solar surface and the extreme geoeffective events. Which threshold determines the onset of the eruption? What is the upper limit in energy for a flare? Is the size of sunspot the only criteria to get extreme solar events? Based on observations of previous solar cycles, and theory, the main ingredients for getting X ray class flares and large Interplanetary Corona Mass Ejections e.g. the built up of the electric current in the corona, are presented such as the existence of magnetic free energy, magnetic helicity, twist and stress in active regions. The upper limit of solar flare energy in space research era and the possible chances to get super-flares and extreme solar events can be predicted using MHD simulation of coronal mass ejections