Comparative Study of the Influence of Full and Partial Halo Geomagnetic Storms on High Latitude Ionosphere

We have studied and compared the effects of full and partial halo geomagnetic storms on the high latitude ionosphere. The study used the total electron content (TEC) data obtained from the global positioning system (GPS) to examine the level of response of high latitude ionosphere around Ny Alesund, Norway to full and partial halo geomagnetic storms of June 23rd 2015 and January 1st 2016 respectively. This study was carried out using a dual frequency ground based GNSS observations at high latitude (NYAL: 78.56oN, 11.52oE) ionospheric station in Norway. The vertical TEC (VTEC) was extracted from Receiver Independent Exchange (RINEX) formatted GPS-TEC data using the GOPI Software developed by Seemala Gopi. The GOPI software is a GNSS-TEC analysis program which uses ephemeris data and differential code biases (DCBs) in estimating slant TEC (STEC) prior to its conversion to VTEC. From the results, the responses of the high latitude before the storm days were more positive than on the storm days. Also the overall response of the high latitude to the full halo geomagnetic storm was more positive with more impact than that of the partial halo geomagnetic storm.

A software-computational neural network tool for predicting the electromagnetic state of the polar magnetosphere, taking into account the process that simulates its slow loading by the kinetic energy of the solar wind

The auroral activity indices AU, AL, AE, introduced into geophysics at the beginning of the space era, although they have certain drawbacks, are still widely used to monitor geomagnetic activity at high latitudes. The AU index reflects the intensity of the eastern electric jet, while the AL index is determined by the intensity of the western electric jet. There are many regression relationships linking the indices of magnetic activity with a wide range of phenomena observed in the Earth's magnetosphere and atmosphere. These relationships determine the importance of monitoring and predicting geomagnetic activity for research in various areas of solar-terrestrial physics. The most dramatic phenomena in the magnetosphere and high-latitude ionosphere occur during periods of magnetospheric substorms, a sensitive indicator of which is the time variation and value of the AL index. Currently, AL index forecasting is carried out by various methods using both dynamic systems and artificial intelligence. Forecasting is based on the close relationship between the state of the magnetosphere and the parameters of the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). This application proposes an algorithm for describing the process of substorm formation using an instrument in the form of an Elman-type ANN by reconstructing the AL index using the dynamics of the new integral parameter we introduced. The use of an integral parameter at the input of the ANN makes it possible to simulate the structure and intellectual properties of the biological nervous system, since in this way an additional realization of the memory of the prehistory of the modeled process is provided.

Algorithm for numerical simulation of electron density and stochastically convecting high latitude ionosphere

The problem of modeling the inhomogeneities of the electron density in the polar ionosphere at the level of the F - layer is considered. It is known that the distribution of ionospheric plasma changes under the action of the electric field of large-scale magnetospheric convection. Since the electric field undergoes significant fluctuations in the auroral zone, it is proposed to use the Monte Carlo method to solve this problem, simulating the process of plasma motion, like the Wiener one with deterministic drift.

Electric Field Multifractal Features in the High-Latitude Ionosphere: CSES-01 Observations

In the polar ionosphere, the electric field is characterized by broadband and power law spectral densities at small/short spatio-temporal scales, which support a possible turbulent nature of the electric field fluctuations. Here, we investigate the multifractal character of the full three-dimensional electric field in the polar ionosphere as recorded on board the first Chinese Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES-01). The results of our analysis prove a clear different degree of multifractality of the electric field fluctuations approaching either the polar cap trailing edge or the auroral region. The observed differences in the multifractal character are interpreted in terms of the different natures of the particle precipitation in the polar cap and in the auroral region. A possible link between the multifractal nature of electric field fluctuations, parallel to the geomagnetic field, and filamentation of field aligned currents (FACs) is established.

On Magnetic Helicity and Field-Aligned Currents in the Polar Ionosphere

<p>Magnetic helicity, which is a measure of twist and linkage of magnetic field lines, is a useful quantity to investigate some processes occurring in space plasmas. In particular, there is a strong link between magnetic helicity, magnetic flux structures, turbulence and dissipation. We investigate the connection between the reduced magnetic helicity and the structure of field-aligned currents in the high-latitude ionosphere using high resolution (50 Hz) magnetic data collected on board the ESA Swarm constellation. We show the existence of a clear link between the multiscale coarse-grained structure of reduced magnetic helicity and the field-aligned currents. This finding strongly supports the idea that turbulence processes might be at the origin of the observed small-scale current structures. A discussion of the relevance of our results in the framework of the filamentary nature of the field-aligned current is also presented.</p><p><span>This work is supported by Italian PNRA under contract </span>PNRA18_00289-A “Space weather in Polar Ionosphere: the Role of Turbulence ".</p>

Multiple transpolar auroral arcs reveal new insight about coupling processes in the Earth’s magnetotail

<p><strong>A distinct class of aurora, called transpolar auroral arc (TPA) (in some cases called “theta” aurora), appears in the extremely high latitude ionosphere of the Earth when interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is northward. The formation and evolution of TPA offers clues about processes transferring energy and momentum from the solar wind to the magnetosphere and ionosphere during a northward IMF. However, their formation mechanisms remain poorly understood and controversial. We report a new mechanism identified from multiple-instrument observations of unusually bright, multiple TPAs and simulations from a high-resolution three-dimensional global MagnetoHydroDynamics (MHD) model. The observations and simulations show an excellent agreement and reveal that these multiple TPAs are generated by precipitating energetic magnetospheric electrons within field-aligned current (FAC) sheets. These FAC sheets are generated by multiple flow shear sheets in both the magnetospheric boundary produced by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability between super-sonic solar wind flow and magnetosphere plasma, and the plasma sheet generated by the interactions between the enhanced earthward plasma flows from the distant tail (less than -100 R<sub>E</sub>) and the enhanced tailward flows from the near tail (about -20 R<sub>E</sub>). The study offers a new insight into the complex solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling processes under a northward IMF condition, and it challenges existing paradigms of the dynamics of the Earth’s magnetosphere.</strong></p>