On the interplay between solar wind parameters and ULF wave power as a function of geomagnetic activity at high‐ and mid‐latitudes

Author(s):  
Stavros Dimitrakoudis ◽  
Ian R. Mann ◽  
Georgios Balasis ◽  
Constantinos Papadimitriou ◽  
Anastasios Anastasiadis ◽  
...  
2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 697-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Pokhotelov ◽  
I. J. Rae ◽  
K. R. Murphy ◽  
I. R. Mann

Abstract. Magnetospheric ultra-low frequency (ULF) oscillations in the Pc 4–5 frequency range play an important role in the dynamics of Earth's radiation belts, both by enhancing the radial diffusion through incoherent interactions and through the coherent drift-resonant interactions with trapped radiation belt electrons. The statistical distributions of magnetospheric ULF wave power are known to be strongly dependent on solar wind parameters such as solar wind speed and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientation. Statistical characterisation of ULF wave power in the magnetosphere traditionally relies on average solar wind–IMF conditions over a specific time period. In this brief report, we perform an alternative characterisation of the solar wind influence on magnetospheric ULF wave activity through the characterisation of the solar wind driver by its variability using the standard deviation of solar wind parameters rather than a simple time average. We present a statistical study of nearly one solar cycle (1996–2004) of geosynchronous observations of magnetic ULF wave power and find that there is significant variation in ULF wave powers as a function of the dynamic properties of the solar wind. In particular, we find that the variability in IMF vector, rather than variabilities in other parameters (solar wind density, bulk velocity and ion temperature), plays the strongest role in controlling geosynchronous ULF power. We conclude that, although time-averaged bulk properties of the solar wind are a key factor in driving ULF powers in the magnetosphere, the solar wind variability can be an important contributor as well. This highlights the potential importance of including solar wind variability especially in studies of ULF wave dynamics in order to assess the efficiency of solar wind–magnetosphere coupling.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Savel'evich Fal'kovich ◽  
M. R. Olyak ◽  
Nikolai Nikolaevich Kalinichenko ◽  
I. N. Bubnov

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 1909-1914 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Yoshida

Abstract. Physical meaning of the equinoctial effect for semi-annual variation in geomagnetic activity is investigated based on the three-hourly am index and solar wind parameters. When the z component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) in geocentric solar magnetospheric (GSM) coordinates is southward, am indices are well correlated with BsVx2, where Bs is the southward component of the IMF and Vx is the solar wind velocity in the sun-earth direction. The am-BsVx2 relationship, however, depends on the range of Vx2: the am in higher ranges of Vx2 tends to be larger than am in lower ranges of Vx2 for the same value of BsVx2 for both equinoctial and solstitial epochs. Using the data sets of the same Vx2 range, it is shown that distribution of points in the am-BsVx2 diagram at the solstitial epochs overlaps with that at the equinoctial epochs and the average am values in each BsVx2 bin in solstitial epochs are closely consistent with those in equinoctial epochs, if Vx2 for each point at solstices are reduced to Vx2sin2 (Ψ) where Ψ is the geomagnetic colatitude of the sub-solar point. Further, it is shown that monthly averages of the am index in the long period is well correlated with the values of sin2(ψ) for the middle day of each month. These findings indicate that the factor that contributes to the generation of geomagnetic disturbance is not the velocity of the solar wind, but the component of the solar wind velocity perpendicular to the dipole axis of the geomagnetic field. The magnitude of the perpendicular velocity component varies semi-annually even if the solar wind velocity remains constant, which is considered to be the long-missed key factor causing the equinoctial effect.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S286) ◽  
pp. 200-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Echer ◽  
B. T. Tsurutani ◽  
W. D. Gonzalez

AbstractThe recent solar minimum (2008-2009) was extreme in several aspects: the sunspot number, Rz, interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) magnitude Bo and solar wind speed Vsw were the lowest during the space era. Furthermore, the variance of the IMF southward Bz component was low. As a consequence of these exceedingly low solar wind parameters, there was a minimum in the energy transfer from solar wind to the magnetosphere, and the geomagnetic activity ap index reached extremely low levels. The minimum in geomagnetic activity was delayed in relation to sunspot cycle minimum. We compare the solar wind and geomagnetic activity observed in this recent minimum with previous solar cycle values during the space era (1964-2010). Moreover, the geomagnetic activity conditions during the current minimum are compared with long term variability during the period of available geomagnetic observations. The extremely low geomagnetic activity observed in this solar minimum was previously recorded only at the end of XIX century and at the beginning of the XX century, and this might be related to the Gleissberg (80-100 years) solar cycle.


2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (6) ◽  
pp. 907-920 ◽  
Author(s):  
W Lyatsky ◽  
A M Hamza

A possible test for different models explaining the seasonal variation in geomagnetic activity is the diurnal variation. We computed diurnal variations both in the occurrence of large AE (auroral electrojet) indices and in the AO index. (AO is the auroral electrojet index that provides a measure of the equivalent zonal current.) Both methods show a similar diurnal variation in geomagnetic activity with a deep minimum around (3–7) UT (universal time) in winter and a shallower minimum near 5–9 UT in equinoctial months. The observed UT variation is consistent with the results of other scientists, but it is different from that expected from the Russell–McPherron mechanism proposed to explain the seasonal variation. It is suggested that the possible cause for the diurnal and seasonal variations may be variations in nightside ionospheric conductivity. Recent experimental results show an important role for ionospheric conductivity in particle acceleration and geomagnetic disturbance generation. They also show that low ionospheric conductivity is favorable to the generation of auroral and geomagnetic activity. The conductivity in conjugate nightside auroral zones (where substorm generation takes place) is minimum at equinoxes, when both auroral zones are in darkness. The low ionospheric conductivity at equinoxes may be a possible cause for the seasonal variation in the geomagnetic activity with maxima in equinoctial months. The diurnal variation in geomagnetic activity can be produced by the UT variation in the nightside ionospheric conductivity, which in winter and at equinoxes has a maximum around 4–5 UT that may lead to a minimum in geomagnetic activity at this time. We calculated the correlation patterns for the AE index versus solar-wind parameters inside and outside the (2–7) UT sector related to the minimum in geomagnetic activity. The correlation patterns appear different in these two sectors indeed, which is well consistent with the UT variation in geomagnetic activity. It also shows that it is possible to improve significantly the reliability of the Space Weather forecast by taking into account the dependence of geomagnetic activity not only on solar-wind parameters but also on UT and season. Our test shows that a simple account for the dependence of geomagnetic activity on UT can improve the reliability of the Space Weather forecast by at least 50% in the 2–7 UT sector in winter and equinoctial months. PACS No.: 91.25Le


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (11) ◽  
pp. 1979-1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Lockwood ◽  
L. Barnard ◽  
H. Nevanlinna ◽  
M. J. Owens ◽  
R. G. Harrison ◽  
...  

Abstract. We present a new reconstruction of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF, B) for 1846–2012 with a full analysis of errors, based on the homogeneously constructed IDV(1d) composite of geomagnetic activity presented in Part 1 (Lockwood et al., 2013a). Analysis of the dependence of the commonly used geomagnetic indices on solar wind parameters is presented which helps explain why annual means of interdiurnal range data, such as the new composite, depend only on the IMF with only a very weak influence of the solar wind flow speed. The best results are obtained using a polynomial (rather than a linear) fit of the form B = χ · (IDV(1d) − β)α with best-fit coefficients χ = 3.469, β = 1.393 nT, and α = 0.420. The results are contrasted with the reconstruction of the IMF since 1835 by Svalgaard and Cliver (2010).


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 645-656
Author(s):  
Audrey Schillings ◽  
Herbert Gunell ◽  
Hans Nilsson ◽  
Alexandre De Spiegeleer ◽  
Yusuke Ebihara ◽  
...  

Abstract. Ion escape is of particular interest for studying the evolution of the atmosphere on geological timescales. Previously, using Cluster-CODIF data, we investigated the oxygen ion outflow from the plasma mantle for different solar wind conditions and geomagnetic activity. We found significant correlations between solar wind parameters, geomagnetic activity (Kp index), and the O+ outflow. From these studies, we suggested that O+ ions observed in the plasma mantle and cusp have enough energy and velocity to escape the magnetosphere and be lost into the solar wind or in the distant magnetotail. Thus, this study aims to investigate where the ions observed in the plasma mantle end up. In order to answer this question, we numerically calculate the trajectories of O+ ions using a tracing code to further test this assumption and determine the fate of the observed ions. Our code consists of a magnetic field model (Tsyganenko T96) and an ionospheric potential model (Weimer 2001) in which particles initiated in the plasma mantle region are launched and traced forward in time. We analysed 131 observations of plasma mantle events in Cluster data between 2001 and 2007, and for each event 200 O+ particles were launched with an initial thermal and parallel bulk velocity corresponding to the velocities observed by Cluster. After the tracing, we found that 98 % of the particles are lost into the solar wind or in the distant tail. Out of these 98 %, 20 % escape via the dayside magnetosphere.


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