Tropospheric effects of variable solar activity

Within 12 hr after strong solar flares at middle to high latitudes a cooling at tropopause level is observed along with changes in temperature and height of isobaric levels in the troposphere. Delayed tropospheric effects are reported to occur at 2–4 days after a flare. It is suggested that the early effect through changing the baroclinic instability conditions of the troposphere is responsible for the occurrence of the late effects. Computations show that the observed early effect may amplify the growth rate of the most unstable wave by at least 20% and perhaps by a factor of 1.5 to 2.Proceedings of the 14th ESLAB Symposium on Physics of Solar Variations, 16–19 September 1980, Scheveningen, The Netherlands.