Dependence of solar proton events on their associated activities: solar and interplanetary type II radio burst, flare, and CME

We investigate the dependence of solar proton events (SPEs) on solar and interplanetary type II bursts associated with solar flares and/or CME-driven shocks. For this we consider NOAA solar proton events from 1997 to 2012 and their associated flare, CME, and type II radio burst data with the following subgroups: metric, decameter-hectometric (DH), and meter-to-kilometric (m-to-km) type II bursts. The primary findings of this study are as follows. First, about half (52%) of the m-to-km type II bursts are associated with SPEs and its occurrence rate is higher than those of DH type II bursts (45%) and metric type II bursts (19%). Second, the SPE occurrence rate strongly depends on flare strength and source longitude, especially for X-class flare associated ones; it is the highest in the central region for metric (46%), DH (54%), and m-to-km (75%) subgroups. Third, the SPE occurrence rate is also dependent on CME linear speed and angular width. The highest rates are found in the m-to-km subgroup associated with CME speed 1500 kms-1: partial halo CME (67%) and halo CME (55%). Fourth, in the relationships between SPE peak fluxes and solar eruption parameters (CME linear speed, flare flux, and longitude), SPE peak flux is mostly dependent on SPE peak flux for all three type II bursts (metric, DH, m-to-km). It is noted that the dependence of SPE peak flux on flare peak flux decreases from metric to m-to-km type II burst.