Gamma rays from solar flares do not significantly heat Earth’s atmosphere. Although solar flares emit bursts of gamma radiation, these high-energy photons cannot penetrate Earth’s dense atmosphere to reach the surface or lower atmospheric layers where heating would be noticeable. Instead, gamma rays are absorbed or scattered in the uppermost layers of the atmosphere, primarily the thermosphere and ionosphere, where they contribute only minimally to heating.
Solar flares are intense eruptions on the Sun’s surface that release vast amounts of energy, including electromagnetic radiation across the spectrum—radio waves, visible light, X-rays, and gamma rays. The gamma rays produced are extremely energetic but interact strongly with Earth’s atmospheric gases, preventing them from reaching lower altitudes. This absorption occurs mainly in the ionosphere, a region filled with charged particles that can absorb and scatter high-energy radiation.
The heating of Earth’s atmosphere is primarily driven by solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation and X-rays rather than gamma rays. UV radiation heats the stratosphere and mesosphere by exciting and ionizing atmospheric molecules, while X-rays contribute to heating the ionosphere. Gamma rays, due to their very short wavelengths and high energy, are absorbed at even higher altitudes but in such small quantities that their contribution to overall atmospheric heating is negligible.
Furthermore, the energy from solar flares that does reach Earth mostly affects the upper atmosphere’s electrical properties rather than its temperature. For example, solar flare-induced X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation increase ionization in the ionosphere, which can disrupt radio communications and satellite operations but does not translate into significant thermal heating of the atmosphere below.
The Sun’s atmosphere itself, where solar flares originate, can reach temperatures of millions of degrees Celsius, much hotter than the Sun’s visible surface. This extreme heating is due to magnetic reconnection processes that accelerate charged particles and produce intense radiation, including gamma rays. However, this intense energy release happens far from Earth and does not directly translate into heating our atmosphere.
In summary, while solar flares emit gamma rays, these rays do not heat Earth’s atmosphere in any meaningful way because they are absorbed high above the surface and in very limited amounts. The main atmospheric heating effects from solar activity come from ultraviolet and X-ray radiation, which influence the upper atmosphere’s temperature and ionization but do not cause direct warming of the lower atmosphere or surface.