On the onset and meridional propagation of the ionospheric F2-region response to geomagnetic storms

The meridional propagation velocities of the ionospheric F2-region response to 268 geomagnetic storms are calculated. Ionospheric vertical sounding data of 1 h time resolution from several stations located in a longitude sector approximately centred along the great circle that contains both the geomagnetic poles and the geographic poles are used.Most meridional propagation velocities from high to low latitudes are less than 600 m/s. The smaller velocities are typical of global neutral meridional wind circulation and the larger are representative of traveling atmospheric disturbances.Simultaneous disturbances at several locations are more frequent during positive phases than during negative phases. Negative phase meridional propagation velocities associated with meridional neutral winds are less frequent in the southern hemisphere when compared with corresponding velocities observed in the northern hemisphere. This may be related to the fact that the distance between the geomagnetic pole and the equator is smaller in the northern hemisphere.Most negative phase onsets are within the 06–10 LT interval. For middle geomagnetic latitudes a “forbidden time interval” between 11 and 14 LT is present. The positive phase onsets show the “dusk effect”.     

Characteristics of geomagnetic storm spectra in middle and low latitude regions and their relation with the tangshan earthquake

The characteristics of 80 geomagnetic storm spectra have been analyzed and compared for the records at seven observatories: Beijing, Qingguang, Changli, Guangzhou, Sheshan, Wuchang and Changchun during 1973–1977. The general natures of the spectra are thus obtained. The results are as follows. First, there are synchronous trends of change in the magnetic storm spectral amplitude at the seven observatories. Second, the sepctral slopes of all the magnetic storms are almost the same. The yearly average values of the spectral slopeb are quite steady within the period range from 0.5 to 6.8 hours. This means that the magnetic storms have the same energy partitioning factor. Third, there are significant changes in the yearly average values of spectral interceptsa for the three observatories of Beijing, Qingguang and Changli which are near the Tangshan earthquake area, but the values are quite steady for the four observatories of Guangzhou, Sheshan, Wuchang and Changchun which are far from the earthquake area. It seems that the noticeable changes are related to the great Tangshan earthquake of July 28, 1976.     

A note on the statistics of the largest geomagnetic storms per solar cycle

This note points out a problem with the way in which extreme value distributions have been fit to the intensities of the largest geomagnetic storms per solar cycle. An alternative method is described. This method is applied to observations of the three largest geomagnetic storms in solar cycles 11–22.     

磁暴期间高纬顶部电离层离子上行特征——DMSP卫星观测

本文利用DMSP F13和F15卫星观测数据,对2001—2005年58个磁暴(-472 nT≤Min.Dst≤-71 nT)期间高纬顶部电离层离子整体上行特征进行了统计研究.观测表明,磁暴期间,顶部电离层离子上行主要发生在极尖区和夜间极光椭圆区.在北半球,磁正午前,高速的离子上行(≥500 m·s-1)多集中在65° MLat以上;午后,高速离子上行区向低纬度扩展,上行速度要略高于午前;在南半球,磁午夜前,DMSP卫星在考察区域内几乎所有的纬度上都观测到了高速上行的离子;午夜后,各纬度上观测到上行离子的速度明显降低.离子上行期间,DMSP卫星在极区顶部电离层高度上也频繁地观测到电子/离子增温,且电子增温发生的频率要远高于离子增温.O+密度变化分析显示,DMSP卫星磁暴期间观测到的上行离子更多地源于顶部电离层高度.这些结果表明电子增温在驱动暴时电离层离子整体上行过程中起着重要作用.     

中国区域GPS单频点定位在不同类型磁暴主相期间定位性能分析

地磁暴期间,电离层可出现不同程度的扰动,显著影响GNSS导航系统性能.本文针对GNSS系统应用需求,全面分析了不同等级磁暴主相期间GPS单频点定位精度在中国区域(地磁中、低纬地区)的受扰情况.结果表明,定位误差极端值的出现概率与磁暴等级呈正相关,也与测站纬度相关(低纬一般高于高纬),定位精度在U(垂直)方向受影响程度明...     

The zonal E×B plasma drift effects on the low latitude ionosphere electron density at solar minimum near equinox

The F2-layer peak density, NmF2, and peak altitude, hmF2, which were observed by 12 ionospheric sounders during the 20 September 1964 geomagnetically quiet time period at solar minimum are compared with those calculated by the three-dimensional time-dependent theoretical model of the Earth's low and middle latitude ionosphere and plasmasphere. The modeled NmF2 are also compared with those measured during the geomagnetically quiet time periods of 12–15, 18–21, and 26 September 1964 to take into account observed day-to-day ionospheric variability. Major features of the data are reproduced by the model if the corrected HWM90 neutral wind is used. The changes in NmF2 due to the zonal E×B plasma drift are found to be less than 20% in the daytime low latitude ionosphere. The model, which does not take into account the zonal E×B plasma drift, underestimates night-time NmF2 up to the maximum factor of 2 at low geomagnetic latitudes. The night-time increase of NmF2 caused by the zonal E×B plasma drift is less pronounced at −20° and 20° geomagnetic latitudes in comparison with that between −10° and 10° geomagnetic latitude. The longitude dependence of the calculated night-time low latitude influence of the zonal E×B plasma drift on NmF2 is explained in terms of the longitudinal asymmetry in B (the eccentric magnetic dipole is displaced from the Earth's center and the Earth's eccentric tilted magnetic dipole moment is inclined with respect to the Earth's rotational axis), and the variations of the wind induced plasma drift and the meridional E×B plasma drift in geomagnetic longitude. The difference between the hmF2 values calculated by including the effect of zonal E×B drift and that obtained when it is excluded does not exceed 19 km in the low latitude ionosphere. Over the geomagnetic equator the zonal E×B plasma drift produces the maximum increase in the electron density by a factor of 1.06–1.48 and 1.05–1.30 at 700 and 1000 km altitude, respectively, and this increase is not significant above about 1500 km. Changes in the vertical electron content, VEC, caused by the zonal E×B plasma do not exceed 16% during the day, while the value of the night-time VEC is increased up to a factor of 1.4 due to this drift. The maximum effects of the zonal E×B plasma drift on the night-time electron density derived from the model results corresponding to solar minimum and maximum are quite comparable.     

暴时内辐射带高能质子的损失和恢复机制探究

我们利用NOAA17卫星对内辐射带高能质子的观测结果研究了大磁暴期间内辐射带质子通量的变化过程.我们发现内辐射带质子出现两种不同的暴时损失事件.在大磁暴发生时,内辐射带外边界质子通量会迅速减小,然后缓慢恢复;而在内辐射带中心区的质子通量(即南大西洋异常区(SAA)质子通量最大值)的暴时变化表现为质子通量的一个迅速的减小和迅速恢复.内辐射带外边界的损失事件主要发生在较低能量质子能档,而内辐射带中心处的损失事件发生在所有质子能档.两种损失事件中质子通量的不同变化意味着内辐射带质子可能有不同的损失和产生机制.通过分析,我们认为内辐射带外边界处质子通量损失事件主要由磁场曲率散射机制造成,而其恢复机制主要是宇宙线反照中子衰变(CRAND).内辐射带中心区(即南大西洋异常区质子通量最大处)质子通量损失事件可能与Dst效应有关.     

2015年3月磁暴期间中国中低纬地区电离层变化分析

2015年3月17日爆发了本太阳活动周最大的地磁暴,Dst指数达到-233 nT.本文利用电离层测高仪f_oF₂和h_mF₂、北斗同步卫星（BDS GEO）TEC以及GPS电离层闪烁S4指数对此次磁暴期间中国中低纬地区（北京、武汉、邵阳和三亚）的电离层变化进行分析,并对此次磁暴所引发电离层暴的可能机制进行了探讨.磁暴期间,中低纬电离层暴整体表现为正相暴之后长时间强的负相暴.3月17日白天中纬正相暴为风场抬升电离层所致,而驼峰区及低纬地区正相暴由东向穿透电场所引起;3月18日白天长时间的强负相暴为西向扰动发电机电场和成分扰动所引起;3月17和18日夜间的负相暴可能是日落东向电场受到抑制以及赤道向风场对扩散的抑制导致驼峰向赤道压缩所致,同时被抑制的日落东向电场强度不足以触发产生赤道扩展F,导致低纬三亚和邵阳夜间电离层闪烁在磁暴期间受到完全抑制.这是我们首次基于北斗同步卫星TEC组网观测开展的电离层暴研究.

     

磁暴期离子上行与太阳风及地磁活动水平的统计关系

利用FAST卫星ESA仪器第23太阳活动周上升相(1997-1998年)的观测数据,选取20个磁暴期间能量为4~300 eV的离子上行事件,研究不同磁暴相位电离层上行离子的能通量与太阳风、地磁活动以及电子沉降的统计关系.结果表明：(1)在磁暴初相、主相和恢复相离子上行平均能通量为6.08×10⁷eV/(cm²·s·sr·eV)、5.75×10⁷eV/(cm²·s·sr·eV)和3.91×10⁷eV/(cm²·s·sr·eV),初相期间上行离子能通量最大;(2)上行离子能通量与太阳风动压、行星际磁场B_Z分量存在相关关系,相关系数分别为0.47和-0.38;(3)在磁暴初相、主相和恢复相上行离子能通量与Sym-H的相关系数分别为0.74、-0.77和-0.54,与Kp的相关系数分别为0.53、0.75和0.65,整体上离子上行与Sym-H指数的相关性好于Kp指数;(4)在磁暴初相、主相和恢复相上行离子能通量和电子数通量的相关系数分别为0.74、0.52和0.32,表明磁暴期间软电子(< 1 keV)沉降可以显著提高电离层离子温度;F区的等离子体摩擦加热和双极电场是离子上行的重要获能机制.本文构建的上行离子能通量与Sym-H和电子数通量的经验关系显著,可用于磁流体模拟研究.

     

磁暴期间热层大气密度变化

基于CHAMP卫星资料,分析了2002—2008年267个磁暴期间400 km高度大气密度变化对季节、地方时与区域的依赖以及时延的统计学特征,得到暴时大气密度变化的一些新特点,主要结论如下: 1)两半球大气密度绝对变化(δρa)结果在不同强度磁暴、不同地方时不同.受较强的焦耳加热和背景中性风共同作用,在北半球夏季,中等磁暴过程中夜侧和大磁暴中,夏半球的δρa强于冬半球;由于夏季半球盛行风环流造成的扰动传播速度快,北半球夏季日侧30°附近大气,北(夏)半球到达峰值的时间早于南(冬)半球.而可能受半球不对称背景磁场强度所导致的热层能量输送率影响,北半球夏季强磁暴和中磁暴个例的日侧,南半球δρa强于北半球;春秋季个例中日侧30°附近大气,北半球先于南半球1~2 h达到峰值. 2)受叠加在背景环流上的暴时经向环流影响,春秋季暴时赤道大气密度达到峰值的时间最短,日/夜侧大气分别在Dstmin后1 h和2 h达到峰值.至点附近夜侧赤道大气达到峰值时间一致,为Dstmin后3 h;不同季节日侧结果不同,在北半球冬季时赤道地区经过更长的时间达到峰值. 3)日侧赤道峰值时间距离高纬度峰值时间不受季节影响,为3 h左右.在春秋季和北半球冬季夜侧,赤道大气密度先于高纬度达到峰值,且不同纬度大气密度的峰值几乎无差别,表明此时低纬度存在其他加热源起着重要作用.     

Statistical study on great geomagnetic storms during solar cycle 23

Characteristics of great geomagnetic storms during solar cycle 23 were statistically investigated. Firstly, we focused on the uniqueness of solar cycle 23 by analyzing both the great storm number and sunspot number from 1957 to 2008. It was found that the relationship between the sunspot number and great storm number weakened as the activity of the storms strengthened. There was no obvious relationship between the annual sunspot number and great storm number with Dstxi≤-300 nT. Secondly, we studied the relationship between the peak Dst and peak Bz in detail. It was found that the condition Bz≤-10 nT is not necessary for storms with Dst≤-100 nT, but seems necessary for storms with Dst≤-150 nT. The duration for Bz≤-10 nT has no direct relationship with the giant storm. The correlation coefficient between the Dst peak and Bz peak for the 89 storms studied is 0.81. After removing the effect of solar wind dynamic pressure on the Dst peak, we obtained a better correlation coefficient of 0.86. We also found the difference between the Dst peak and the corrected Dst peak was proportional to the Dst peak.     

不同起源地磁扰动期间极光沉降能量的统计研究

尽管对极光沉降能量(HP)的研究已经开展很久,但是关于不同行星际扰动源对HP影响的研究仍然很少.本文基于2001—2008年NOAA极轨卫星数据,对三类不同扰动源,即盔状冕流共转相互作用区(CIRs)、伪冕流CIRs和行星际日冕物质抛射(ICMEs)驱动的中等磁暴期间HP的变化进行时序叠加统计分析,讨论了相关太阳风背景参数、地磁活动强度以及耦合函数的有效性;研究了三类磁暴事件期间HP的南北半球不对称性.结果表明,在磁暴之前盔状冕流CIR磁暴的HP明显低于伪冕流CIR磁暴和ICME磁暴,盔状冕流"磁暴前的平静期"与Newell耦合函数关系密切,而与Russell-McPherron效应关系较小.盔状冕流CIR磁暴主相HP高于伪冕流CIR磁暴和ICME磁暴,可能与盔状冕流相应行星际|Bz|和太阳风数密度均较高有关.此外,在Kp≤4时,冬夏季半球HP的差别随着Kp增加而增加,相应的变化规律符合电导率反馈机制的预测;在Kp>4时,盔状冕流磁暴和ICME磁暴冬季半球的HP大于夏季半球的,伪冕流磁暴事件夏季半球的HP大于冬季半球的或与冬季半球的相近.     

NO冷却率在连续磁暴中对热层密度的影响

基于CHAMP卫星加速度计数据,对2002年4月和2004年11月两个连续磁暴事件期间400 km高度热层大气密度时空变化特征进行了分析,结果表明,地磁扰动相近的连续磁暴发生时,热层密度对第一个磁暴的响应幅度明显大于后续磁暴;磁暴间歇期有时会出现密度低值;磁暴恢复相,热层密度先于ap指数快速恢复至暴前水平,甚至更低;热层大气经验模式NRLMSISE00的预测结果中没有包含这些现象.利用TIMED卫星SABER辐射计数据进一步分析同时段100~155 km高度NO冷却率的变化特点,NO冷却率在暴时的增大滞后热层密度2~6 h;磁暴恢复相,NO冷却率保持在较高水平,弛豫时间远大于热层密度.暴时增强的NO冷却率及其缓慢的恢复是导致热层密度响应幅度变小的原因,间歇期是否出现热层密度异常低值也与NO冷却率的增幅有关.     

Equatorial spread-F initiation: Post-sunset vortex, thermospheric winds, gravity waves

We present experimental evidence and modeling results which indicate that eastward thermospheric wind is the primary controlling factor of equatorial spread-F initiation in the post-sunset ionosphere. Eastward wind-driven Pedersen currents are able to polarize F-region density perturbations with westward tilting wavefronts into rapidly growing modes to trigger the formation of spread-F bubbles. The described process is so rapid that seeding requirements of spread-F initiation by external factors such as gravity waves are effectively eliminated.     

中国地区电离层TEC暴扰动研究

电离层总电子含量(TEC)是空间天气研究和监测预报的重要参量.本文引入了电离层TEC扰动指数DI, 对青岛等6个台站的DI数据进行分析,选取DI>0.35(DI≤-0.30)作为正(负)相电离层TEC扰动的强度标准,并以连续6 h及以上的DI满足该值来判定电离层TEC暴扰动事件.对电离层TEC暴扰动事件的统计分析表明,在地方时日落后至子夜前为发生高峰时段,正(负)相暴扰动事件平均持续时间约为10.9 h(10.5 h),正相暴发生率以冬季为多,夏季为少,而负相暴则以夏季略高.发现位于赤道异常驼峰区的广州站和位于高中纬度的海拉尔站比典型中纬地区的北京站电离层TEC暴扰动更易发生,且低纬地区以正相暴扰动为主.分析表明,约有70%的电离层TEC暴扰动伴随着有地磁扰动,但是电离层TEC暴扰动并不完全由地磁扰动所引起,强烈气象活动等局地环境因素也可能对电离层TEC暴扰动有着重要影响.     

中国地区电离层TEC暴扰动研究

电离层总电子含量(TEC)是空间天气研究和监测预报的重要参量.本文引入了电离层TEC扰动指数DI, 对青岛等6个台站的DI数据进行分析,选取DI>0.35(DI≤-0.30)作为正(负)相电离层TEC扰动的强度标准,并以连续6 h及以上的DI满足该值来判定电离层TEC暴扰动事件.对电离层TEC暴扰动事件的统计分析表明,在地方时日落后至子夜前为发生高峰时段,正(负)相暴扰动事件平均持续时间约为10.9 h(10.5 h),正相暴发生率以冬季为多,夏季为少,而负相暴则以夏季略高.发现位于赤道异常驼峰区的广州站和位于高中纬度的海拉尔站比典型中纬地区的北京站电离层TEC暴扰动更易发生,且低纬地区以正相暴扰动为主.分析表明,约有70%的电离层TEC暴扰动伴随着有地磁扰动,但是电离层TEC暴扰动并不完全由地磁扰动所引起,强烈气象活动等局地环境因素也可能对电离层TEC暴扰动有着重要影响.     

Solar origin of geomagnetic storms and prediction of storms with the use of neural networks

This review deals with how the changes of the large-scale solar magnetic fields are related to the occurrence of solar phenomena, which are associated with geomagnetic storms. The review also describes how artificial neural networks have been used to forecast geomagnetic storms either from daily solar input data or from hourly solar wind data. With solar data as input predictions 1–3 days or a month in advance are possible, while using solar wind data as input predictions about an hour in advance are possible. The predictions one hour ahead of the geomagnetic storm indexD _st from only solar wind input data have reached such high accuracy, that they are of practical use in combination with real-time solar wind observations at L1. However, the predictions days and a month ahead need to be much improved in order to be of real practical use.     

东亚扇区中低纬地区电离层暴的统计分析

用1957~2006年间515个主相单步发展的磁暴事件,分析东亚扇区4个中低纬台站的电离层扰动类型及电离层暴开始时间,得到该地区电离层暴随纬度、季节和地方时的分布规律.研究表明,中纬区负暴明显,低纬区正暴明显;夏季负暴比正暴多,冬季正暴比负暴多,春秋季正负暴分布表现出明显的纬度差异.在东亚扇区,中纬区负暴开始时间主要分布在夜间及清晨时段,且在正午至午后时段极少发生.低纬区正暴开始时间主要发生在白天时段,且在夜间18~21 LT时段也易发生正暴.中低纬电离层正相暴平均延迟时间在10 h以内,负相暴平均延迟时间在10 h以上,且中纬区延迟时间明显比低纬区短.电离层暴延迟时间与磁暴主相开始时间对应的地方时很相关,正相暴对白天发生的磁暴比对晚上发生的磁暴响应快些,而负相暴正好相反.但电离层暴延迟时间与磁暴强度之间并没有十分明显的依赖关系.