Polar regionSq

Geomagnetically quiet day variations in the polar region are reviewed with respect to geomagnetic field variation, ionospheric plasma convection, electric field and current. Persistently existing field-aligned currents are the main source of the polar regionSq. Consequently, the morphology and variability of the polar regionSq largely depend upon both field-aligned currents and ionospheric conductivity. Since field-aligned currents are the major linkage between the ionosphere and the magnetosphere, the latter is controlled by solar wind state, in particular, the interplanetary magnetic field, the polar regionSq exhibits remarkable IMF dependence.     

The equatorial electrojet

The typical quiet day variations of the equatorial electrojet (EEJ) current intensity with time of the day, season, sunspot number, and geomagnetic latitude are presented in terms of the corresponding variations of H which is the deviation of the horizontal component (H) of the geomagnetic field from its steady nighttime level. The observed height structure of the current density in the EEJ as measured in rocket flights is presented, along with the theoretically computed structure. Theoretical model results on the polarization electric fields and east-west currents as generated by the local interactions of height-varying winds in the EEJ show large height gradients and reversals for both currents and electric fields; experimental evidence for the reality of such height structures is also shown. The characteristics of the counter-electrojet events are presented and the possible causative mechanisms are discussed critically.Some typical experimental results are presented on the electric field changes in the EEJ which result from its sensitive response to electrodynamic disturbances in the magnetosphere and the auroral-polar latitude ionosphere during geomagnetic substorms and storms; and their implications are discussed. Possibilities for utilizing the EEJ as a very useful medium for important scientific studies on the larger space domain of ionosphere-magnetosphere system, on plasma waves, and on the earth's conductivity are emphasized.     

Method for determining the geomagnetic activity index based on wavelet packets

A method for determining quiet daily variations (Sq curve) in automatic mode and calculating the K index of geomagnetic activity based on wavelet packets has been proposed. The method makes it possible to reproduce the Bartels technique and includes the separation of geomagnetic signal informative components, determination of geomagnetic field disturbances, and the formation of quiet daily variations. The method effectiveness was proved experimentally.     

Gabriel graph of geomagnetic Sq variations

This paper describes the pattern of geomagnetic solar quiet day, Sq, variations recorded at the Indian geomagnetic observatories. The extent to which the high and low latitude ionosphere is interlinked electromagnetically during periods of quiet geomagnetic conditions is a point of debate. The concept of Gabriel graph is applied to derive the boundaries for the variations of horizontal, vertical, and declination components of the earth’s magnetic field during geomagnetically quiet periods. Data of the six Indian geomagnetic observatories (Alibag, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Pondicherry, Visakapatnam, and Trivandrum) are considered for this analysis. This graph theoretical model is complementary to the classical data analysis techniques. Analytical method and the results of the analysis are presented in the paper.     

The contribution of magnetospheric currents toSq

Since the discovery of the magnetosphere, it has been known that the currents flowing in the magnetosphere contribute toSq, the regular daily variation in the earth's surface magnetic field. The early models, however, were not very accurate in the vicinity of the earth. The magnetospheric contribution toSq has therefore been recalculated by direct integration over the three major magnetospheric current systems; magnetopause, tail and ring. The finite electrical conductivity of the earth, which increases the horizontal and decreases the vertical components of the magnetospheric field at the earth's surface, has been taken into account. The magnetospheric currents are found to contribute 12 nanotesla to the day to night difference in the mid-latitudeSq pattern for steady, quiet magnetospheric conditions. They also contribute to the annual variation in the surface field and must be considered an important source of the observed day to day variation in theSq pattern.     

The upper mantle conductivity analysis method using observatory records of the geomagnetic field

The electrical conductivity of the Earth's upper mantle can be inferred from geomagnetic quiet-day,Sq, variations recorded at the world's observatories using the, coefficients of a spherical harmonic analysis (SHA) that separate the external (source) and internal (induced) parts of the surface field. The conductivity profile determined from such an analysis can be sensitive to special characteristics of the quiet field itself as well as the separation techniques employed. This review of the Sq-analysis features critical to a conductivity derivation is pictorially presented along with the equations for application of theSchmucker (1970) technique to theSHA coefficients for a conductivity determination. Three examples illustrate the use of these equations with differentSq models.     

Secular variations ing 1 0 component of geomagnetic field and its origin

The secular variations (SV) ing ₁ ⁰ of geomagnetic field, caused by the interaction between the geomagnetic field and the radial fluid-flow of the outer-core, are discussed with both statistical and analytic methods. When the value ofg ₁ ⁰ s ₂ ⁰ is relatively high compared with other terms, SV ing ₁ ⁰ is characterized by exponential change. When the effect of non-dipole field is notable, SV ing ₁ ⁰ shows complex features. Especially when the value of g ₁ ⁰ is close to zero, SV ing ₁ ⁰ is completely determined by the random process of non-dipole fields. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 49429405) and by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.     

An inspection of the long-term behaviour of the range of the daily geomagnetic field variation from comprehensive modelling

This paper attempts to reveal whether long-term trends in the ionosphere are reflected in the amplitude range of the geomagnetic daily variation recorded at ground level. The smooth and regular variation observed in the magnetograms on magnetically quiet days is induced by the ionospheric currents flowing in the dynamo region. So it is likely that trends in the conductivity or in the dynamics of this region could produce changes in the current densities, and consequently in the range of the geomagnetic variation. The crucial aspect is how to separate the changes produced by the geomagnetic activity itself, or by secular changes of the Earth's magnetic field, from the part of the variation produced by factors affecting trends in the ionosphere, which could have an anthropogenic origin. To investigate this, we synthesized for several geomagnetic observatories the daily ranges of the geomagnetic field components with a comprehensive model of the quiet-time, near-Earth magnetic field, and finally we removed the synthetic values from the observed ranges at those observatories. This comprehensive model accounts for contributions from Earth's core, lithosphere, ionosphere, magnetosphere and coupling currents, and, additionally, accounts for influences of main field and solar activity variations on the ionosphere. Therefore, any trend remaining in the residuals, assuming that all the contributions mentioned above are properly described and thus removed by the comprehensive model, should reflect the influence of other sources. Results, based on series of magnetic data from observatories worldwide distributed, are presented. Trends in the X and Z components are misleading, since the current system changes in form as well as in intensity, producing changes of the focus latitude in the course of a solar cycle and from one cycle to another. Some differences exist between the long-term trends in the Y component between the real and modelled ranges, suggesting that other non-direct solar causes to the amplitude changes of the solar quiet geomagnetic variation should not be ruled out. Nevertheless, the results also reflect some short-comings in the way that the comprehensive modelling accounts for the influence of the solar activity on the range of the daily geomagnetic variation.     

Least squares and integral methods for the spherical harmonic analysis of theSq-field

Spherical harmonic coefficients (SHCs) for the daily magnetic variation fields (solar and lunar) and the main field of the earth are usually estimated by the method of least squares applied to a truncated spherical harmonic series. In this paper, an integral method for computing the SHCs for the solar quiet daily magnetic variation fieldSq is described and applied toSq data for May and June 1965. TheSq SHCs thus derived are then compared with the results obtained using both unweighted and weighted versions of the least squares method. The weighting used tends to orthogonalize the least squares terms. The integral and weighted least squares results agree closely for terms up to order 4 and degree 30, but both disagree considerably for the higher degree terms with the results of the unweighted least squares. Errors introduced by the numerical integration can be shown to be small, hence the disagreement between integral and unweighted least squares coefficient sets arises from improper weighting. Also, it is concluded that discrepancies between the geomagnetic northward and eastward component-derived coefficient sets arise from either time-dependent external sources that produce non-local-time, based fields or nonpotential sources and not from truncation of the spherical harmonic series as has previously been suggested.Deceased.     

Prediction of variations from Polar Cap indices using time-delay neural network

The hourly averaged Polar Cap (PC) index was used as the input parameter for the ring current index D_st variation forecasting. The PC index is known to describe well the principal features of the interplanetary magnetic field as well as the total energy input to the magnetosphere. This allowed us to design a neural network that was able to forecast the D_st variations 1 h ahead. 1995 PC and D_st data sets were used for training and testing and 1997 data sets were used for validation. From 15 moderate and strong geomagnetic storms observed during 1997, 10 were successfully forecasted. In 3 cases the observed minimum D_st value was less than the predicted value, and only in 3 cases the neural network was not able to reproduce the features of the geomagnetic storm.     

Preliminary study on the source field mode of geomagnetic six-month-period variations

The monthly means of north component X of geomagnetic field from 16 observatories during 1984–1988 were analyzed using the Sompi spectral analysis technique Most of these observatories are located in China. The analysis of the semiannual variations indicates that the latitude has no apparent effect on the X component. This clearly implies that the source field mode of semiannual variations cannot simply be described by using the p ₁ ⁰ mode. Using the p ₁ ⁰ mode to estimate the inductive scale lengthC in the semiannual period, the value ofC at each observatory would be biased significantly. The purpose of this study is to find which kind of modes is optimal for estimating the values ofC corresponding to the semiannual variations. The results show that a composite mode, involving five terms P _n ⁰ (n = 1,, 5), might be a reasonable and acceptable one     

基于平滑伪魏格纳-维勒分布的时频分析方法的震例回溯性研究

以四川及其邻区现有地磁台站数据为研究对象,基于平滑伪魏格纳-维勒分布的时频分析方法(SPWVD),对其进行时频计算,并对康定地震、九寨沟地震附近地磁台站及中强震活跃时段与平静时段的川滇地区部分地磁台站Z分量滤波后周期为4. 4h的振幅变化特征进行回溯性震例分析。研究发现:2014年康定地震之前,震中附近7个地磁台站4. 4h振幅存在同步高值异常现象,其中5个台的幅值为震前所研究时段的最高值;九寨沟地震前,震中附近6个台站存在同步相对高值的异常现象,其中3个台的幅值为震前所研究时段的最高值; 2014年川滇地震活跃时期,该区域地磁台站普遍存在4. 4h振幅同步异常,台站数量多、振幅大,与此时间段内中强地震发生强度呈正相关,在时间上呈现短临特征; 2018年川滇地区中强地震活动平静时期,4. 4h振幅变化较平稳,异常振幅相对较小,而后活跃期间同步异常的最大振幅增大且异常台站数量增加。综上所述,通过SPWVD时频方法对地磁数据进行处理和分析,以此得到的规律和认识,对未来川滇地区中强地震预测和研判区域地震活动性的强弱有积极意义。     

The ionospheric up-flowing He ion distribution in the magnetosphere

Based on ion distribution function found from the dynamic equation, the density distribution of He⁺ ions originating from the polar ionosphere and up-flowing along the magnetic field line is studied during quiet and weakly disturbed geomagnetic conditions. The results show the following. (1) The ionospheric up-flowing He⁺ ions mainly reside in the inner magnetosphere and their density has a negative radial gradient. (2) The ionospheric up-flowing He⁺ ion distributions along the magnetic field line are mainly controlled by gravity and the geomagnetic field configuration. Larger the gravity, larger is the ion density. Smaller the intensity of magnetic field, smaller is the ion density. (3) If the geomagnetic activity index K_p is high, more up-flowing He⁺ ions will enter the magnetosphere and the region where the up-flowing ions are dominant will grow. This is consistent with observations of ionospheric up-flowing ions. Some features of the geopause can be understood based on our theoretical results.     

Induction of auroral zone electric currents within the Alaska pipeline

The Alaskar pipeline is a highly conducting anomaly extending 800 miles (1300 km) from about 62° to 69° geomagnetic latitude beneath the most active regions of the ionospheric electrojet current. The spectral behavior of the magnetic field from this current was analyzed using data from standard geomagnetic observatories to establish the predictable patterns of temporal and spatial changes for field pulsation periods between 5 min and 4 hr. Such behavior is presented in a series of tables, graphs and formulae. Using 2- and 3-layer models of the conducting earth, the induced electric fields associated with the geomagnetic changes were established. From the direct relationship of the current to the geomagnetic field variation patterns one can infer counterpart temporal and spatial characteristics of the pipeline current. The relationship of the field amplitudes to geomagnetic activity indices,A _p, and the established occurrence of various levels ofA _p over several solar cycles were employed to show that about half of the time the induced currents in the pipe would be under 1 A for the maximum response oscillatory periods near 1 hr. Such currents should be of minimal consequence in corrosion effects for even a section of the pipeline unprotected by sacrificial electrodes. Of greater interest was the result that the extreme surges of current should reach over one-hundred amperes in the pipeline during high activity.     

Formation mechanisms of the midlatitudinal <Emphasis Type="Italic">NmF2</Emphasis> semiannual anomaly under daytime quiet geomagnetic conditions at low solar activity

The F-region peak electron densities NmF2 measured during daytime quiet geomagnetic conditions at low solar activity on January 22, 2008, April 8, 1997, July 12, 1986, and October 26, 1995, are compared. Ionospheric parameters are measured by the ionosonde and incoherent scatter radar at Millstone Hill and calculated with the use of a 1D nonstationary ionosphere–plasmasphere model of number densities and temperatures of electrons and ions at middle geomagnetic latitudes. The formation of the semiannual anomaly of the midlatitudinal NmF2 under daytime quiet geomagnetic conditions at low solar activity is studied. The study shows that the semiannual NmF2 anomaly occurs due to the total impact of three main causes: seasonal variations in the velocity of plasma drift along the geomagnetic field due to the corresponding variations in the components of the neutral wind velocity; seasonal variations in the composition and temperature of the neutral atmosphere; and the dependence of the solar zenith angle on a number of the day in the year at the same solar local time.     

Letter to the editor Electric field fluctuations (25–35 min) in the midnight dip equatorial ionosphere

Measurements with a HF Doppler sounder at Kodaikanal (10.2°N, 77.5°E, geomagnetic latitude 0.8°N) showed conspicuous quasi-periodic fluctuations (period 25/35 min) in F region vertical plasma drift, V_z in the interval 0047/0210 IST on the night of 23/24 December, 1991 (A_p = 14, K_p < 4^–). The fluctuations in F region vertical drift are found to be coherent with variations in B_z (north-south) component of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), in geomagnetic H/X components at high-mid latitude locations both in the sunlit and dark hemispheres and near the dayside dip equator, suggestive of DP2 origin. But the polarity of the electric field fluctuations at the midnight dip equator (eastward) is the same as the dayside equator inferred from magnetic variations, contrary to what is expected of equatorial DP2. The origin of the coherent occurrence of equatorial electric field fluctuations in the DP2 range of the same sign in the day and night hemispheres is unclear and merits further investigations.     

2013年甘肃岷县漳县MS6.6地震及短临前兆的显现

简述了2013年7月22日甘肃岷县漳县MS6.6地震的情况。该地震是1954年以来甘肃省发生的最大地震。本文对这次地震的短临前兆进行了综合论述与讨论,内容包括地震发生日与节气和朔望日的关系、地磁静日低点位移的回顾、低点位移的倍九日期回顾、异年倍七律方法的指标在临震日期预测的回顾、甘肃天水深井电阻率的短期前兆的回顾,最后讨论了综合预测的问题。     

Electric field effects on ionospheric and thermospheric parameters above the EISCAT station for summer conditions

Numerical calculations of the thermospheric and ionospheric parameters above EISCAT are presented for quiet geomagnetic conditions in summer. The Global Self-consistent Model of the Thermosphere, Ionosphere and Protonosphere (GSM TIP) was used. The numerical results were obtained both with a self-consistent calculation of the electric fields of magnetospheric and dynamo-action origin and with the magnetospheric electric fields only. It was found that the dynamo-electric field has some effect on the ionospheric convection pattern during quiet geomagnetic conditions. It has a marked effect mainly on the zonal neutral wind component above EISCAT (±20m/s at 140 km altitude). We have studied the effects of various field-aligned current (FAC) distributions on thermosphere/ionosphere parameters and we show that a qualitative agreement can be obtained with region-I and -II FAC zones at 75° and 65° geomagnetic latitude, respectively. The maximum FAC intensities have been assumed at 03–21 MLT for both regions with peak values of 2.5 × 10^–7 Am^–2 (region I) and 1.25 × 10^–7 A m^–2 (region II). These results are in agreement with statistical potential distribution and FAC models constructed by use of EISCAT data. The lack of decreased electron density in the night-time sector as observed by the EISCAT radar was found to be due to the spatial distribution of ionospheric convection resulting from electric fields of magnetospheric origin.     

中国地区地磁垂直分量日变幅的空间分布及高空电流体系焦点位置的移动

本文利用我国部分台站地磁垂直分量日变幅的资料,采用局部地区日变场的分析方法,研究了地磁垂直分量日变幅在中国地区的空间分布特征.结果表明,在局部地区地磁日变场的研究中,考虑经度影响是必要的,本文所用方法是适宜的;结果还表明,垂直分量日变幅的空间分布呈现出明显的季节变化、逐月变化及逐日变化性.若粗略地把磁静日垂直分量日变幅极大值所处的纬度视为 Sq 高空电流体系的焦点所对应的纬度,则此焦点纬度夏季最高,冬季最低,春秋季居中,并显出明显的逐月及逐日变化性,在相邻的两个静日,焦点纬度的变化可达几度.      

Reaction of the critical frequency of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis>2 layer to a sharp depletion in atmospheric pressure

Changes in the critical frequencies of the F2 layer at several midlatitude stations of ionospheric vertical sounding during a sharp depletion in atmospheric pressure under quiet solar and geomagnetic conditions are analyzed. It is shown that in such periods, the observed foF2 values differ from the mean values by approximately 10–15% and the deviations from the mean could be both negative (in the daytime hours) and positive (at night). Such variations in foF2 could be referred to the known class of ionospheric disturbances observed under a quiet geomagnetic situation, that is, to the so-called “Q-disturbances.” Analysis of wavelet spectra of foF2 variations shows the presence in the F region of oscillations of various periods (from 0.5 to 10 days). The decrease in the amplitude of daily variations during pressure depletion is found. Presumably, the observed effect is caused by the dynamic impact of waves formed in the lower atmosphere on the ionospheric F2 layer.