Abstract

Solar energetic particles (SEPs) are accelerated by magnetic reconnection-driven processes during solar flares and by coronal mass ejection (CME)-driven shocks. Large gradual SEP events, associated with high energy protons (up to tens of GeV) can cause hazardous space weather conditions at Earth and hence pose a severe radiation risk for crewed spaceflight and a significant threat to near-Earth technological assets. However, we currently do not fully understand where SEPs originate from and what specific features in a solar active region could be the sources of SEPs. In this work, we have used observations from multiple space-based missions along with magnetic field modelling to identify the source of SEPs and the important role that the magnetic field configuration surrounding the active region, the magnetic connectivity and CME propagation direction play in the escape and arrival of SEPs at Earth.