Indian Journal of Radio & Space PhysicsVol. 3, December 1974, pp, 384-390

Unusual Magnetic Activity during 4-10 August 1972 & Some of ItsBiological Consequences

B. J. SRIVASTAVA & D. S. BHASKARA RAO

National Geophysical Research Institute. Hyderabad-5000.)7

Received 2 February 1974

Analysis and discussion of the unusual magnetic activity observed at Hydcrabad during 4-10 August J 972are presented. The three major SC-type magnetic storms recorded during the period in association with importantsolar flares are discussed. The second storm which was characterized by a large SC amplitude (99"( inH) at 2054hrs UT on 4 August, and numerous rapid oscillations throughout, is compared with the great magnetic storm of17 July 1959. The estimated velocities of the solar wind responsible for these storms are also compared with thevelocities actually observed by Pioneer-9. Some of the biological consequences of these magnetic storms at Hydera-bad are also examined. It is found that during this period the number of admissions of heart cases and general sick-ness cases as well as deaths in the hospitals at Hyderabad registered a significant increase. Road accidents inHyderabad also showed an increase. It is argued that the enhanced micropulsations and other rapid oscillations ofthe geomagnetic field occurring during magnetic storms trigger off such biological consequences after reacting withthe human brain and heart.

1. IntroductionBEGINNINGWITH A minimum in October 1964, the

present solar cycle 20 reached a maximum towardsthe end of 1968 (Rz = Ill) which was about halfthe value of the Zurich sunspot number correspond-ing to the record maximum of cycle 19 in October1957 (Rz = 202). It is now on the decline and theminimum is expected in early 1975. During the years1972, 1973 and 1974 until we reach the minimum,the solar and geomagnetic activities are expected tobe fairly low.

A sudden increase in the geomagnetic activity was,however, observed at Hyderabad during 4-10 August1972, which was quite unusual and unexpected(Rz = 59 for August 1972). It would be interestingto examine in this paper the causes and the conse-quences of this unusual activity during a relativelycalm period.

2. Solar FlaresThe first week of August 1972 was characterized

by intense solar flare activity. Table 1 gives a list ofthe important flares as reported in the Solar Geophy-sical Datal and Kodaikanal data.

Solar flare effects (sfes) were also observed in themagnetograms on 2 August at 1838-1852 hrs UT atFredericksburg and Huancayo, and on 7 August at0252-0256 hrs UT at Port Moresbey and again on7 August at 1513-1615 hrs UT at Wingst, Witteeveen,Ebro, Nurmijarvi, Istanbul-Kandili and Fredericks-burg. But none of these sfes could be detected in the

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magnetograms of Hyderabad for two reasons. Eitherit was night-time at Hyderabad when the flare occur-red, or the the daytime flare effect was masked in thedisturbance in progress at that time.

3. Magnetic Activity at HyderabadUnusual and unexpected geomagnetic activity was

observed at Hyderabad (geomag. coord. : + 7°'6,148°'9) during 4-10 August 1972, following some ofthe important solar flares mentioned in Section 2 andTable 1. Three major SC-type magnetic storms wererecorded. The characteristics of these storms atHyderabad are given in Table 2. In Table 3 are giventhe details of the solar flares responsible for the mag-netic storms, the average speeds of the enhanced solarwinds causing the storms as calculated from the sun-earth distance 1'495 X 10s km, the delay time (timeinterval) between the flare and the associated SC andthe speeds as measured by Pioneer-9 at a distance of1'1618 X 108 km from the sun within the earth orbit."Pioneer-9 plasma instrument recorded three inter-planetary (IP) shocks as a result of the series of flaresoriginating from McMath regino =11= 976 (N 12, E 28on 2 August (972) at 03/1124 UT Ua- jumped froman ambient of 350 to 385 krn/sec, at 03/2915 UT UH+jumped from 600 to 900 km/sec, at 05/0030 UT Un+jumped from 900 to > 1000 krn/sec. This> 1000krn/sec solar wind velocity appears to be the highestvelocity recorded on the Pioneer series of spacecraftto date. Ordinarily, the speed is 300-400 krri/sec.Pioneer-IO instruments also indicated these IP shocks.

SRIVASTAVA & BHASKARA RAO: AUG. 1972 MAGNETIC ACTIVITY & ITS BIOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES

Table 1- Solar Flares Observed during 1-7 August 1972SI. Obser- Observed 1ime, hrs UT Location Dura- Impor- AreaNo, vatory tion tance sq. deg.

Date Max, La!. Mer. Central Measured Corr.1972 Start End dist . minAugust Phase (approx.) (approx.) dist,

L Koda 01 0433 0446 0433 S 21 E 01 13 Sb

2_ Arce 01 0832 0852 N 13 E 46 0-718 20 Sn 0-17 0-20Tehr (1841 1101 0915 N 14 E 48 0-742 140 Ib 1.96Ramy 1051 1108 1054 NJ3 E 47 0-730 17 Sn I-58

3_ Tehr 02 0316 0506 0410 N 13 E 3~ 0-577 110 Ib 3'37Paie 0321 0426 0327 N 11 E 37 0-601 65 1b 1-86Athn 0355 0451 0355 N 15 E ;15 0-552 56 Ib 2-64

4_ Mitk 02 0619 0703 N 14 E 33 0-552 44 2f 7'84 9-20

5, Pale 02 1838 1859 1842 N 13 E 28 0'477 21 Sb 1'44Boul 1841 1855 1845 NI3 E 25 0-433 14 1b

6_ Pale 02 2006 2336 2010 N 13 E 28 0-477 210 Ib 309Pale 2023 Ib 4'13Pale 2058 2b 10'31Boul 2248 0111 2248 N 12 E 25 0-430 143 Ib 2-40 2-60

7_ Ramy 03 1502 1525 1~04 S 14 W 57 0'866 23 In 2'75

8_ Capf 04 0645 0730 0645 N 14 E 08 0195 45 4b 25-89 26'40

9_ Arce 04 0751 1000 N 13 E 08 0-183 129 3b 16-34 19'30Koda 04 0920 0926 N 14 E 03 2b

10, Milk 05 0442 0451 0443 S 07 W90 1'000 9 If 0'52

II. Milk 06 0236 0251 0241 S 18 W74 0'974 15 If 0'93

Pale 0238 0239 0238 S 17 W73 0'969 Sn 0'27Koda 0247 0305 0249 S 19 W 69 In

12, Koda 06 0648 0700 0651 S 19 W69 In

13, Mani 07 0348 0450 0355 N 14 W33 0'550 62 Ib 3'92 4'60Tehr 0350 0442 0357 N 15 W27 O'46!! 52 Ib 2'83Koda 0400 0439 0403 N 14 W31 2bAthn 0419 0451 0419 N 18 W 30 0'523 32 2n 6'93

14, Athn 07 1021 1035 1025 S 02 W 53 0'804 14 Sn 0'50Tehr 1026 1034 \027 S04 W51 0'787 8 Sn 0'84Upic 1028 1204 1031 S 02 W 54 0'814 96 If

IS, Ondr. 07 ]030 1\03 N13 W36 0'589 33 InRamy 1054 1146 llOO N 16 W 34 0'570 52 In 2'04Athn 1056 1\37 1101 N 15 W 33 0'553 41 In 2'64Tehr ll02 1149 1104 N 15 W 32 0'539 47 In 301

16, Ramy 07 1200 1230 1204 N13 W 36 0'589 30 Sb 167Athn 1200 1223 1202 N 15 W30 0'511 23 Sn 1'32Arce 1200 1400 NlI W34 0'558 120 Ib 2'96 3'50Upic 1204 1232 N 12 W 33 0'546 28 SbOndr. 1204 1217 1207 N 12 W 36 0'588 13 In

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.INDIAN J. RADIO SPACE PHYS., VOL 3, DECEMBER 1974

Table I-Solar Flares Observed during 1-7 August 1972 (contd)

SI. Obser- Observed Time, hrs UT Location Dura- Irnpor- AreaNo. vatory tion tance sq. deg.

Date Max. Lato Mer, Central Measured Corr.1972 Start End dist, minAugust Phase (approx.) (approx.) uist.

17o Ramy 07 1304 1320 1310 N 17 W 35 0°586 16 sf 1°39

Arce 1305 1355 N 18 W 38 0628 50 Sn 1°38 1°80

Upic 1319 1427 N 18 W 35 0°589 68 1n

Ramy 1336 1430 1345 N 15 W 36 0°594 54 sf 1"55

18. Ondr 07 1449 1640 N 13 W39 0°629 111 3b

Athn 1457 1653 1505 N 15 W 38 0°620 116 lb 3°30

Athn 1520 02b 11°55

Upic 1500 1706 1529 N 14 W 37 0°605 126 4b

Boul 1505 1905 1530 N 16 oW 35 0°583 240 3b 21°39 23"80

Hers 1507 1610 1534 N 15 W39 0°633 63 3b 11°28 13°50

Ramy 1510 01604 1520 N 14 W40 0°644 54 2b 5°57

Ramy 1528 2b 7·73

Arce 1529 1630 N 12 W36 0°588 61 3b 22°53 7·59

Capf 1530 1610 1530 N 12 W 32 0·531 40 4b 35°58 41°40

Pale 1630 1930 1639 N 14 W 35 0°578 180 2b 9°21

Table 2-Magnetic Storms Recorded at Hyderabad during 4-10 August 1972

Date

Storm Timehrs UT

Sudden CommencementAmplitudes

C-FigureActivity

Maximal activity Rangeson Kvscale

(0-9)do 3 hr-period D(') H(y) Z(y)

K-index

Start End-hrs-mln hrs min

TypeD (') H (yl Z (y)

1972August 04 01 19 04 18 SC + 12 -2 MS04 2 7 5 149o 42

04 02 20 SC + 34 -3

04 20 54 07 11 sc -1°1 + 99 -5 S 04 8 9 11 363 63

05 23 44 SI + 22 -2

08 13 40 SC -0°2 + 8 -1

08 23 53 09 22 SC + 24 -I S 09 4 8 5 301 40

09 00 36 SC -°0°1 + IS -1

S = Severe; MS = Moderately severe

o •. ~ o ·~ _

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SRIVASTAVA & BHASKARA RAO: AUG. 1972 MAGNETIC ACTIVITY & ITS BIOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES

Table 3~Comparison of Computed Solar Wind Velocitywith Those Observed by Pioneer-9

Observedsolar-flare(impor-tance)hrs UT

Time inter-val between

flare andSSC in hrs(approx.)

Observedsolar wind

velocityat

Pioneer-S(averagefor theflare-SCinterval)(km/sec)

SSChrs UT

Computedaveragesolar wind

velocity(approx.krn/sec)

1972 date hrsmill

August

d. h. m.zh. m.

02 18 38/1852

(also sfe) (Sb) 04 01 19 31 1,340 516

02 20 06/0111

(!b) 04 02 20 31 1,340 516

040645/1000

(3b) 04 20 54 14 2,966 776

07 03 48/0450

(also sfe) (Ib) 08 13 40 35 1,187 515

07 15 13/1615

(also sfe) (3b) 08 23 53 33 1,258 479

Another plasma IP shock from 3b flare of 07/1520UT was seen by Pioneer-9 at 10/0700 UT. Radialalignment of Pioneer-S and Pioneer-IO withsun occurred at 0940 UT on 6 August 1972 withPioneer-9 at 1'1618 X lOBkm from sun and Pioneer-lOat 3'2894 x 10Bkm from sun">, The earth is at a distance0[.1 '4950 X lOB km from the sun. The earth-sunprobe angle was around 4~o for Pioneer-9 during theactivity period. Pioneer-9 also recorded one of thehighest counting rates (greater than 16,380 particles/see on 4 August) for cosmic ray protons with energy> 13'9 MeV and 7,660 particles/see on 7 August at230Q hrs UT.

We now discuss the magnetic activity (three major. storms) observed at Hyderabad during this periodgiven in Table 2. The first storm of moderate inten-sity began with a sudden commencement on 4 Augustat 0119 hrs U T followed by another SC after an hourat 0220 hrs UT and showed a range of 149 y ill H atHyderabad. The storm ended the same day around1800 hr s UT without a well-developed main phase.

Very rapid oscillations (micropulsations) of the geo-magnetic field over seconds and minutes were obser-ved during the storm. Following a 3b flare, thesecond storm of severe intensity commenced suddenlyon 4 August 1972 at 2054 hrs UT. The SC amplitudein H was 99 y which is the highest on record at theHyderabad observatory during the past eight yearsof its existence. It is significant that this large SC-amplitude was recorded at Hyderabad during night-time. Shirgaokar and Srivastava' pointed out whilediscussing the July 1959 events that large SCs oflOa y and above in H had a tendency to occur duringnighttime at Alibag. This storm was also characte-rized by numerous large-amplitude rapid oscillations(pulsations over seconds and minutes) throughout. Arange of 363y in H was observed and the highestK-index during the storm at Hyderabad was 9. Thestorm was fairly long drawn-out and ended around1100 hrs UT on 7 August. An SI was also observedduring the storm on 5 August at 2344 hrs UT.

This storm resembles the great magnetic storm of17 July 1959 in several respects. Both were flare-asso-ciated storms. The storm of 17 July 19~9 started withan SC at 1638 hrs UT (nighttime) of amplitude 148 yin H at Alibag and showed a range of 305 y in Hwith one K-index of 8 (Shirgaokar and Srivastava").Very rapid large-amplitude pulsations similar to thepresent one were also. recorded during that storm. Thepulsatory character and severity of the second stormthus compare with those of the 17 July 1959 stormwhich occurred near the sunspot maximum, indicat-ing an abrupt increase in the ma gnetic activity in thefirst week of August 1972 when the activity shouldhave been on the decline following the sunspot cycle.

The third storm began with an SC on 8 August1972 at 2353 hrs ur although a small SC was alsoobserved much earlier at 1340 hrs UT. Another SCwas also noticed at 0036 hrs lJT on 9 August. Thestorm ended on 9 August around 2200hrs UT. It wasof severe intensity with a range of 301y in H and oneK-index of 8 at Hyderabad. This storm was some-what different in character as compared to the firsttwo storms. The large amplitude rapid oscillationswere not prominent during this storm although somepulsatory character was still there in the initial pbaseand the early part of the main phase of the storm.

Let us now examine Table 3. The average speedof the solar wind responsible for the first and thethird storms turns out to be about 1,300 krn/sec whilefor the second storm it is of the order of 3,000 krn/secwhich agree with the solar wind speeds of 1,000-3,000km/sec generally estimated for storm generating winds(corpuscular streams). But the average solar windspeed as measured by Pioneer-9 instruments was

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INDIAN J. RADIO SPACE PHYS., VOL. 3, DECEMBER 1974

about 500 km/sec for the first and the third stormsand 800 krn/sec for the second storm at a distanceof about 5,000 earth radii from the earth on its sun-ward side. This apparent discrepancy will have to befully uuderstood and interpreted.

4. Correlation with Road Accidents andMedical DataDaily data on road accidents were collected from

the records of the four circles of the Traffic Police in

Table 4-Daily Data on Magnetic Activity (K-Sum)Road Accidents, Hospital Admissions of Heart Cases,

General Sickness Cases and Deaths as Recorded atHyderabad during August 1972

Magnetic Number Number Number NumberDate activity of road of admis- of admis- of deaths

(daily acci- sions of sions of inK-sum) dents heart general hospitals

cases sicknesscases

1 12 4 6 149 142 08 3 8 175 163 12 6 10 201 174 46 10 12 177 225 51 8 12 182 116 34 7 5 76 197 17 7 9 137 16s 14 8 10 168 149 40 9 16 185 15

10 21 6 10 180 1411 20 7 5 135 1412 13 4 5 149 1113 12 5 3 103 1514 18 2 5 134 1515 14 4 5 122 1516 11 4 6 151 1217 10 4 8 140 918 16 5 7 148 919 22 6 10 173 620 17 5 3 87 12

21 20 4 10 )62 II22 )2 2 9 155 II23 08 6 6 156 II24 07 2 3 111 II25 12 8 6 130 1426 24 7 8 155 927 24 5 3 81 1128 11 2 6 165 1229 13 2 7 157 930 12 2 6 144 1131 !I 3 5 15S II

Average forthe month 18 5 7 147 I3Average for4th to 10th 32 8 10 158 16Average forthe monthexcluding4th to 10th 14 4 6 143 12

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the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad for thewhole of August 1972. Medical data on the daily admis-sions of heart cases, general sickness cases, and deathsin the main hospitals of Hyderabad-Secunderabad(Osmania, Gandhi and Golconda hospitals) were alsocompiled from the hospital records. These data aregiven in Table 4 along with the data of daily K-sum(geomagnetic activity) as observed at the HyderabadMagnetic Observatory during August 1972. The dataare shown graphically in Figs. J and 2 to bring outthe correlation. The average figures for the wholemonth, for the period of intense activity (4- 10 August)and for the whole month excluding the active period(last three rows of Table 4), will now be discussed.The average daily K-sum for the month of August1972 excluding the active period works out as 14 asagainst the average of 32 for the period 4-10 August,showing thereby that the magnetic activity during theintense period was doubly as high as for the rest ofthe month. The average number of road accidents inHyderabad-Secunderabad for the month excluding the7-day active period was 4 as against 8 for the activeperiod. The average number of admissions of heartcases to hospitals in Hyderabad-Secunderabad for themonth excluding the active period was 6 as against10 for the active period. The number of admissions ofgeneral sickness cases to hospitals, and deaths inhospitals during the active days 4-10 August also re-corded a marginal increase over the rest of the month.

Thus, while the road accidents and hospital admis-sions of heart cases in Hyderabad during 4-10 August1972 registered an increase of 100% as compared tothe rest of the month, hospital admissions of generalsickness cases and deaths in hospitals during 4-10

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4 8 12 16 20AUGUST 1972

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Fig. I-Plots of daily K-sum (magnetic activity) as obser-ved at the Hyderabad Magnetic Observatory, and the dailynumber of road accidents recorded in Hyderabad-Secunder-abad during August 1972, showing the increase for the

active days 4-10 August

SRIVASTAVA & BHASKARA RAO: AUG. 1972 MAGNETIC ACTIVITY & ITS BIOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES

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Fig. 2-Plots of daily K-sum (magnetic activity) as observedat the Hyderabad Magnetic Observatory, and the daily num-ber of hospital admissions of heart cases and general sick-ness cases together with number of deaths in the main hospi-tals of Hyderabad-Secunderabad during August 1972,

showing the increase for the active days 4-10 August

August recorded an increase of only 10% and 33%respectively.

These are some of the biological consequencesobserved at Hyderabad during the period of unusualmagnetic activity 4- 10 August 1972, and seem to arisefrom the triggering action on the vital parts of thehuman body of rapid oscillations over seconds andminutes of the geomagnetic field (pulsations) duringmagnetic storms and disturbances. All the threestorms recorded during the period were extremelypulsatory in character and abounded in enhancedmicropulsations. Enhanced magnetic pulsation activityis likely to upset the normal functioning of the brainand the nervous system which are electrical in charac-ter, and cause errors of judgement leading to anincreased number of road accidents. Likewise, theseenhanced magnetic pulsations appear to react with thehuman heart electrical potentials and trigger off heartattacks. They also react with other parts of theh uman body (there are electrical potentials in thedifferent parts of the body) and give rise to an incre-ase in general sickness cases as well as deaths to acertain extent. The influence of geomagnetic disturb-ances (mainly enhanced pulsations) will naturallydiffer from individual to individual depending on thebody conditions. All individuals will not, therefore,respond similarly to geomagnetic disturbances.

Earlier, Bhaskara Rao and Srivastava" obtained avery good correlation between geomagnetic disturb-ances and road accidents (correlation coeff. = 0'7) inHyderabad-Secunderabad for the period 1965-68. Aninvestigation of correlation of geomagnetic disturb-ances with medical data of three years is in progress.There is need to carry out similar investigations witha lot more data for several places to establish thedefiniteness of the correlation between geomagneticdisturbances and bio-medical data. The whole pro-blem appears to be pretty complex. The biophysicsand the biochemistry of the phenomenon will have tobe fully understood with the help of laboratory expe-riments using rabbits, rats and other animals and sub-jecting them to rapid electromagnetic changes andstudying their behaviour. Such experiments are alreadyin progress in the USSR and should be carried out atother places as well, so that the biology consequencesof geomagnetic disturbances can be better understood.

5. ConclusionsUnexpected and unusual geomagnetic activity was

observed at Hyderabad during 4-10 August 1972.Three major SC-type magnetic storms were recordedin association with important solar flares. The secondstorm occurred with an SC (amplitude 99 y in H) at2054 hrs UT on 4 August and showed numerous

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INDIAN J. RADIO SPACE PHYS., VOL. 3, DECEMBER 1974

large-amplitude rapid oscillations over seconds andminutes throughout, and a range of 363"( in H, whichcompared in intensity and pulsatory character withthe great magnetic storm of 17 July 1959 of the mostactive period near the sunspot maximum of October1957. The velocities of the solar wind responsible forthe three storms of 4-10 August 1972 have been esti-mated as 1,000-3,000 krn/sec which are quite differentfrom the velocities actually measured by Pioneer-9 ata distance of about 5,000 earth radii from the earth(500-800 km/sec),

A correlation of the magnetic activity data withthe data of road accidents and hospital admissions ofheart cases and general sickness cases as well as deathsin hospitals in the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secund-erabad, showed that road accidents and hospitaladmissions of heart cases increased by 100% duringthe active days of 4-10 August as compared to therest of the month. Admissions of general sicknesscases and deaths in hospitals, however, increased onlyby 10% and 33% respectively during the activeperiod.

These biological consequences of geomagnetic dis-turbances seem to arise from the influence of suchdisturbances, especially pulsations, on the electricalpotentials in the human brain and heart as well asother parts of the body. In order to understand fully

390

the phenomenon of biomagnetism, there is need forlaboratory experiments on animals supported byintense biophysical and biochemical investigations.

AcknowledgementThe authors wish to thank the Deputy Commis-

sioner of Police (Traffic), Andhra Pradesh, Hyder-abad, and his staff for making available the recordsof road accidents in the four circles of Hyderabad-Secunderabad. Thanks are also due to the Superin-tendents of the Osmania General Hospital, Hyder-abad, and the Gandhi Hospital, Secunderabad, andthe Commanding Officer of the Military Hospital,Golconda, Hyderabad, for the medical data used inthis study. Grateful thanks are also due to Dr HariNarain, Director, NGRT, Hyderabad, for his keeninterest and encouragement in this research project,and also for his permission to present this paper atthe symposium.

Referencest. U.S. :Jept. of Commerce, NOAA, Environmental Data

Service, Solar Geophysical Data (Data for July andAugust 1972),337 Pt I (1972),8; 29.

2. SHIRGAOKAR, A. J. & SRIVASTAVA, B. J., Proceedings 0/the IGY Simposium, 13-16 Feb. 1961, New Delhi, Part II(1963),74.

3. BHASKAR A RAO, D. S. & SRrvASTAVA, B. J., Bull. NGRT,8 (1970), 39.

'.