Long-term variations of geomagnetic activity and their solar sources

Geomagnetic activity in each phase of the solar cycle consists of 3 parts: (1) a “floor” below which the geomagnetic activity cannot fall even in the absence of sunspots, related to moderate graduate commencement storms; (2) sunspot-related activity due to sudden commencement storms caused by coronal mass ejections; (3) graduate commencement storms due to high speed solar wind from solar coronal holes. We find that the changes in the “floor” depend on the global magnetic moment of the Sun, and on the other side, from the height of the “floor” we can judge about the amplitude of the sunspot cycle.     

Long-term variations in geomagnetic and solar activities and secular variations of the geomagnetic field components

Summary After the removal of the eleven-year periodicity, long-term patterns of the aa indices of geomagnetic activity and of Wolf's sunspot numbers are defined. The positions of maxima and minima exhibit the same regularities as the secular variations of the geomagnetic filed components. This result is associated with the motion of the Sun round the barycentre of the solar system.Presented at symposium Planet 88, Tihany, September 1988.     

On regularities in long-term solar quiet geomagnetic variations

We propose a simple model to describe the behaviour of solar quiet geomagnetic variations Sq over a long time. We assume that Sq variations can be expressed through 24-h components and their harmonics subject to three modulations: 1 year, 11 years and several tens years. We started from the observation that the spectral lines of 30-year geomagnetic data series are split in accordance with yearly modulation. Our model gives good approximation of Sq variations and discloses a striking correlation of amplitudes and phases of modulating functions with the sunspot number and 2.8 GHz solar radio emission. It is also a tool for monitoring the Sq variations.     

地磁太阳黑子周变化起源的讨论

为了避开60年代末和70年代末Jerk(H)、Jerk(Z)的影响,分析了1979～1998年西欧4个台和1979～1999年亚洲东部6个台的H、Z资料,结果表明各台间H(或X)分量的太阳黑子周变化一致性较好.但Z分量的太阳黑子周变化显示出非常特别的现象,Z变化的相位随台站经度变化而变化,东亚地区的Z变化几乎与西欧地区的变化反向.因此,东亚地区的Z变化与H变化的关系不符合P01模式的假设,外源场之说似乎不能解释.     

Lunar and solar daily variations of the geomagnetic field at Toolangi

Summary Mean hourly values of magnetic declination, horizontal intensity and vertical intensity observed at Toolangi during two ten year periods (1924–1933 and 1949–1958) have been analysed to determine their solar and luni-solar diurnal components. The results, showing the variations of the first four harmonic components with season, degree of magnetic activity and annual sunspot number, are tabulated and discussed. It is shown that there are marked differences in the dependence ofS andL on the various parameters and a tentative explanation of this phenomenon is given.     

Low-latitude variations in the geomagnetic field caused by solar wind disturbances

In view of the actual question regarding the effect of a solar-wind pressure jump on disturbances in the Earth’s magnetosphere, events with high velocity and density gradients are of special interest. In this work, we consider the response of the current at the dayside magnetopause to these events and the corresponding strengthening of the geomagnetic field in the low-latitude magnetosphere. A transient process is studied that accompanies reconfiguration of the magnetosphere under the effect of disturbances of solar wind parameters. An analytical equation is received for estimation of an increase in the northern component of low-latitude magnetic field of the magnetosphere in a transient current system (transient ring current) versus initial values of the solar-wind velocity and density and their disturbances.     

Prediction of geomagnetic storms from solar wind data with the use of a neural network

An artificial feed-forward neural network with one hidden layer and error back-propagation learning is used to predict the geomagnetic activity index (D_st) one hour in advance. The B_z-component and _Bz, the density, and the velocity of the solar wind are used as input to the network. The network is trained on data covering a total of 8700 h, extracted from the 25-year period from 1963 to 1987, taken from the NSSDC data base. The performance of the network is examined with test data, not included in the training set, which covers 386 h and includes four different storms. Whilst the network predicts the initial and main phase well, the recovery phase is not modelled correctly, implying that a single hidden layer error back-propagation network is not enough, if the measured D_st is not available instantaneously. The performance of the network is independent of whether the raw parameters are used, or the electric field and square root of the dynamical pressure.     

Electrical conductivity at mid-mantle depths estimated from the data of Sq and long period geomagnetic variations

We present results of a classical global induction analysis of the geomagnetic variation data in the range of daily Sq variations, as well as for long period variations within the period range of about 8 to 400 days. The Sq data from 88 to 94 world observatories are processed in two ways, first by constructing and analyzing average monthly daily variations for the whole months of the International Quiet Sun Year (IQSY) 1995, and second by analyzing the individual, especially quiet Q* daily records from the same year. The electrical images of the Sq response functions obtained via the Schmucker’s ρ* — z* procedure show a good fit with results of other induction studies, though especially our global impedance phases show a larger scatter than two other published data sets used for comparison.     

A new magnetic index based on the external part of vertical geomagnetic variations

Variations of geomagnetic components X, Y, and Z recorded in 19 Intermagnet European observatories in 2004 were analysed. The original data from all observatories were preliminarily processed. In the first step, periods longer than three hours were filtered out. In the second step, variations of vertical geomagnetic component Z were separated into external and internal parts. We introduced a non-dimensional index η defined as the square root of a ratio of the energy of the external part of the vertical component to that of the horizontal components. Maps of the surface distribution of a new magnetic index η for the area of Europe at selected time periods were created, and their time changes are presented. The time changes of η for selected observatories are also shown. Moreover, we discuss a very interesting phenomenon we discovered, that has never been described in geophysical literature. Namely, in the recordings of all the observatories we noticed the presence of very regular variations, observed almost exclusively in the vertical component Z, which is quite unusual. These regular variations occur in the form of sinusoidal “wave packets”. The amplitudes of these variations do not depend on the geomagnetic latitude and appear in the records of all the observatories we analyzed. They occur in quiet days, which suggests that their source is in the ionosphere.     

Tropospheric vorticity responses to the solar magnetic sector structure and geomagnetic disturbances

The responses of the Vorticity Area Index (VAI) at 500 mb to large geomagnetic disturbances and to magnetic sector boundary crossings are evaluated for the periods 1947–57 and 1963–74, during which time the geomagnetic response to sector structure were known to be distinctly different. Results indicate that the nature of the VAI response to geomagnetic disturbances is markedly similar between the two subsets. The response does not vanish even when only those geomagnetic disturbances not related to sector boundary passage are used in the analysis, which suggests that enhanced geomagnetic activity can independently influence the lower atmosphere. Unlike the geomagnetic disturbance-related effects the sector-related effects have varied with time in a very complex manner. In view of this it is concluded that geomagnetic disturbances, whose effects have shown pronounced consistency, may prove a better solar signal in future sun-weather studies.     

Tidal components of geomagnetic variations

The natural geomagnetic field is constantly disturbed. The total registered effect of geomagnetic variations depends on both planetary and local processes. Planetary sources and sources in the Earth’s core respond to tidal effects. In the accepted model, the complex MHD processes in the Earth’s outer core are approximated by the assumed ring current in the equatorial plain of the liquid core. The geomagnetic variation originating as a result of tidal deformations of ring currents are ～10^?4 and 0.10–1 nT in the liquid core and magnetosphere, respectively. The calculated values coincide in order of magnitude with the processed geomagnetic measurements at Paratunka observatory (Kamchatka region).     

A stratified core motion inferred from geomagnetic secular variations

An examination of the westward drift of the geomagnetic field indicates that the drift velocity is almost independent of latitude, suggesting a uniform rigid rotation of spherical shape. When the geomagnetic field is separated into standing and drifting components and expressed in a spherical harmonic series, a lack of sectorial terms is noted in the standing field. It is shown that these features are well explained by a stratified core model.The core is supposed to be stratified near the surface where toroidal fluid motions are predominant. In the deeper part, the fluid motion is two-dimensional, forming Taylor columns. A simplified core model is assumed to represent these features, in which the core is divided into two parts, an outer spherical shell that rotates westwards at a uniform rate of 0.3° y^?1 and a central sphere in which the two-dimensional columnar motions reside. The toroidal motions in the outer spherical interact with the dipole field to induce the drifting field, whereas the columnar motions generate the standing field through interaction with a toroidal field. It follows that a small velocity as 5 × 10^?3 cm s^?1 for the stratified motion is sufficient to create the observed drifting field.     

Long-period variations in the magnetic field of small-scale solar structures

Thirty small-scale structures in the solar atmosphere, i.e., facula nodes at ±(20°–46°) latitudes, have been studied in order to analyze quasi-periodic variations in the magnetic field. SDO/HMI magnetograms have been used for this purpose. Long-period variations in the magnetic field strength of the considered objects in the 60–280 min range have been revealed as a result of data processing. It has been shown that there are no dependences between the magnetic field and period, nor between the magnetic field and object area. It has been assumed that the discovered variations are not natural oscillations of the magnetic field strength.     

两次强震发生前后主动源观测走时数据的变化

利用祁连山主动源连续激发台站记录资料,通过不同时间段的多次激发数据叠加处理,可以获取各个地震台的Pg和Sg震相走时变化数据.对震相走时变化数据分析发现,在2015年11月23日祁连5.3级和2016年1月21日门源6.4级地震发生前后震源区附近台站存在明显的震相走时变化,推测导致这种异常变化的原因是震源区的速度发生了改变.这一观测结果说明主动源方法可能成为地震预测的一种新途径.

     

Geomagnetically induced currents in power lines according to data on geomagnetic variations

The time derivative (d H/dt) of the geomagnetic field horizontal component (H) for seven intervals of high geomagnetic activity in 2003–2005 has been calculated, based on the data of Alma-Ata, Novosibirsk, and Irkutsk observatories, in order to estimate the probability of appearance of geomagnetically induced current (GIC), the value of which is linearly dependent on d H/dt, in power lines on the territory of Kazakhstan. The distributions of the H and d H/dt directions have been constructed; in this case it was most interesting that these distributions were narrow and extended along the magnetic meridian for Alma-Ata and were wider angular for Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. It has been indicated that large H values, determining significant GIC values, took place at a sudden commencement of strong storms, which had a character of a pulsed disturbance of the geomagnetic field, and during large-amplitude geomagnetic field pulsations. The duration of the periods of large |d H/dt| values exceeding the threshold (30 nT/min), when GIC could cause unwanted consequences in power circuits, has been determined.     

Long-term variations in the geomagnetic activity level Part II: Ascending phases of sunspot cycles

Monthly averages of the Helsinki Ak-values have been reduced to the equivalent aa-indices to extend the aa-data set back to 1844. A periodicity of about five cycles was found for the correlation coefficient (r) between geomagnetic indices and sunspot numbers for the ascending phases of sunspot cycles 9 to 22, confirming previous findings based on a minor number of sunspot cycles. The result is useful to researchers in topics related to solar-terrestrial physics, particularly for the interpretation of long-term trends in geomagnetic activity during the past, and to forecast geomagnetic activity levels in the future.