Mesospheric ozone depletion during the Solar Proton Event of July 13, 1982 Part II. Comparison between theory and measurements

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Abstract
The solar proton event of July 13, 1982 was the largest to date in the current solar cycle. Proton fluxes observed by the NOAA‐6 satellite have been used to calculate ionization rates during the event, which have been found to be almost as large as those of the August, 1972 event near 70 km, but much smaller at lower altitudes. This ionization leads to the production of odd hydrogen radicals (H+OH+HO2) which catalytically destroy odd oxygen in the mesosphere and stratosphere. A one‐dimensional time‐dependent model has been used to calculate the percentage change in ozone resulting from this event. The calculated ozone depletion is compared to that observed by the Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME) satellite.