Multivariable Comprehensive Analysis of Two Great Geomagnetic Storms of 2015

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2018 papers

Abstract

Abstract During the year 2015 two great geomagnetic storms (Dst < −200 nT) occurred on 17 March and 22 June. These two geomagnetic storms have similarities. They occurred during the same decreasing phase of the sunspot cycle 24. The interplanetary and magnetospheric environments were calm before the beginning of the storms. Both events were due to Coronal Mass Ejections and High‐Speed Solar Wind. Variations of the solar wind velocity and the Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field were also similar. Two key features that are different for these storms are UT time of the beginning (04:45 UT for 17 March and 18:33 UT for 22 June) and season (equinox and solstice). The comparison of the impact of the storms on the Earth ionosphere and magnetosphere has been performed using diverse parameters including global ionospheric maps of vertical total electron content, data from individual Global Navigation Satellite System receivers, ionosondes, magnetometers, and instruments from different space missions. Visualizing global ionospheric map data as the difference of vertical total electron content between consecutive days allowed understanding better the effect of the storms as a function of time of the beginning of the storm and of the season. It is shown that the presence or absence of scintillations in Global Navigation Satellite System signals during these two storms in African longitude sector is clearly related to the local time at a given station at the beginning of the storm.

Related Papers

• → Climatological study of GPS total electron content variations caused by medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances(2006)155 cited
• → Characterization of ionospheric GPS Total Electron Content (GPS–TEC) in low latitude zone over the Kenyan region during a very low solar activity phase(2012)49 cited
• → Comparison of GPS-TEC observations over Addis Ababa with IRI-2012 model predictions during 2010–2013(2015)31 cited
• → On the IRI 2007 performance as a TEC predictor for the South American sector(2012)18 cited
• → Comparison of Ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) over Sonmiani (Pakistan) with NeQuick-2 and IRI-2012 during July 2014 – June 2015(2018)9 cited