Abstract

This paper proposes and provides substantiation for a hypothesis concerning the mechanism by which solar and geomagnetic activity (mainly of solar flares and magnetic storms) affects the biosphere, including man. The hypothesis, including a physical mechanism introduced by the author and new for aeronomy, is that high-lying (Rydberg) states of all gases of the earth's upper atmosphere are excited by ionospheric electrons. This excitation results in monochromatic emissions of the ionosphere in the microwave region of rf waves. Experiments have shown that this microwave radiation becomes much stronger during flares on the sun and auroras. The microwave radiation in turn penetrates downward to the altitudes of the biosphere virtually freely, while its resonance effect on various biological objects, including man, has been experimentally confirmed for many years. © 2005 Optical Society of America

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