Work

A citizen-science catalogue of interplanetary Type III solar radio bursts and first statistical results

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Aims. We present the first extensive catalogue of interplanetary Type III solar radio bursts compiled through human participation, and provide a statistical analysis of burst occurrence, peak flux, and frequency drift. Methods. The catalogue is based on Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) observations from Solar Orbiter, collected via the citizen science campaign Solar Radio Burst Tracker on Zooniverse.org with contributions from 1952 volunteers between February 2020 and March 2025. A dedicated post-processing pipeline extracted each burst’s time-frequency extent, peak flux, and quantitative uncertainties, enabling statistical analyses. Results. The catalogue comprises 15 934 bursts. Burst occurrence strongly correlates with sunspot number and shows modulation with Solar Orbiter’s heliocentric distance. Peak flux distributions across 23 frequencies follow power laws with an average slope of –1.56 ± 0.004, steepening at higher frequencies. This is consistent with earlier studies of smaller samples. At still higher frequencies, slopes plateau around –1.7 to –1.8, resembling self-organized criticality behaviour. Burst occurrence peaks at 1-2 MHz, reflecting efficient electron-beam transport and beam-plasma interaction. Frequency drift rates for 13 074 bursts scale as df/dt = –0.001 f1.37, differing from prior relations over other frequency ranges. Conclusions. This human-validated, large-scale catalogue provides a robust statistical resource for Type III bursts, capturing solar cycle and observational effects, extending analyses to faint and complex events, and constraining frequency-dependent flux and drift rates. It also offers a benchmark for future automated and machine-learning detection methods.

Source: Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology)

DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202659339/pdf

Authors: Aikaterini Pesini, Antonio Vecchio, Xavier Bonnin, Milan Maksimovic, Sandor Kruk, Nicole Vilmer, Corentin K. Louis, Sophie Musset, Marc Klein-Wolt, Vratislav Krupar, Heino Falcke

Institutions: Radboud University Nijmegen, Université Paris Cité, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Université, European Space Astronomy Centre, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Language: English

Topic: Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7160494737

FWCI:

Cites:

Cited by:

Related to: