Webinar with Hisashi Hayakawa
(Nagoya University, Japan)
Thursday, 29th October 2026
(17h CET | 11h EDT)
The Carrington Storm of 1859: Archival Investigations, Quantification, and Contextualisation
Webinar with Hisashi Hayakawa (Nagoya University, Japan)
Thursday, 29th October 2026 (17h CET | 11h EDT)
Please click on this Link for the Zoom Session
Meeting ID: 852 6990 9362
Password: 459004
Analyses of extreme solar storms are of particular importance for solar physics and the mitigation of space-weather hazards. In the observational history, the Carrington event of 1859 is regarded as a benchmark, not only in terms of its magnitude but also in terms of its significance within their history. Despite the qualitative significance, it has been proven challenging to quantify this extreme solar storm, as it occurred almost a century before the onset of the space age and thus has challenged quantitative magnitude assessments for a long time. However, recent archival (and proxy) investigations have allowed us to access contemporary analogue measurements thereby enabling a reassessment and revision of the magnitudes of the solar flare, transit time of the perturbations in the solar wind, solar particle storm, geomagnetic storm, and equatorward extension of the auroral oval. This presentation will provide a comprehensive review of their recent magnitude reassessments and contextualise the Carrington storm within the broader framework of extreme solar-terrestrial storms throughout history.
