Propagation of low energy protons associated with the 24 January 1969 solar flare

This paper presents directional low energy solar proton measurements together with inter-planetary magnetic field measurements. Propagation of 1 to 13 MeV solar protons is discussed in terms of the relative importance of field-aligned streaming compared to convection of the proton population in the solar wind. Evidence is presented to show that protons associated with the January 24, 1969 solar flare were stored near the Sun for at least 90 minutes. It is also shown that under favourable conditions solar protons can be accelerated near the Earth's bow shock. The decay of solar protons is shown to be mainly convective; however, there are indications that in smooth field regimes convection of 1 MeV solar protons can be greatly reduced. Finally, it is pointed out that the effect of adiabatic deceleration can be quite important.