Extreme geomagnetic and optical disturbances over Irkutsk during the 2003 November 20 superstorm

Dynamics for geomagnetic pulsations, field-aligned currents, and airglow at mid-latitudes within substorm activations during superstorms

“…In both superstorms, one observed several substorm activations [Huttunen et al, 2002;Baishev et al, 2008]. During the 2003 Nov 20 superstorm, one observed powerful bursts of geomagnetic pulsations and airglow intensities in the green (557.7 nm) and red (630.0 nm) atomic oxygen lines at the mid-latitude UZR and TOR observatories [Mishin et al, 2018]. From the IRT data one in a geomagnetic field H-component in the interval 16:30-21:00 UT can see two bays (activation of substorm activity) with minima at 17:24 UT and 19:39 UT.…”

“…The description of the analyzed events from the ground-based and satellite geomagnetic and optical observations is presented in a number of papers [Huttunen et al, 2002;Mishin et al, 2010;Mikhalev et al, 2004;Ebihara et al, 2005;Hairston et al, 2005;Hori et al, 2006;Mishin et al, 2007;Solovyev et al, 2008;Karavaev et al, 2009;Valladares et al, 2015;Mishin et al, 2016;Mishin, Karavaev, 2017;Mishin et al, 2018].…”

“…These events are accompanied by an increase in electric fields and currents in the ionosphere of the auroral zone that, during superstorms (sometimes observed strongest storms), can spread to the mid latitudes [Troitskaya, Gul'elmi, 1967;Pudovkin et al, 1976;Tinsley et al, 1986;Brunelli, 1988;Rassoul et al, 1993;Kangas et al, 1998;Mikhalev et al, 2004;Zverev et al, 2012;Leonovich et al, 2013;Li, Wang, 2018]. During the 2003 Nov 20 storm (one of the strongest), from the mid-latitude geophysical observatories located near Irkutsk (CGM: 47.3° Ф, 177° Λ) in the post-midnight MLT sector, there recorded shortperiod Pi1B/Pi1С pulsations, and disturbances of optical emissions in the 557.7 nm and 630.0 nm atomic oxygen [OI] lines, as well as in 391.4 nm ionized nitrogen molecular band, with record-breaking intensity values [Mishin et al, 2018]. The authors of the latter paper related the generation of these pulsations and an increase in the 557.7 nm and the 391.4 nm emissions to the precipitation of energetic electrons (~ keV) in the western electrojet head area.…”

“…The authors of the latter paper related the generation of these pulsations and an increase in the 557.7 nm and the 391.4 nm emissions to the precipitation of energetic electrons (~ keV) in the western electrojet head area. The model calculations of the ionosphere parameters showed that the total intensity of the 630.0 nm emission was caused by the process of collision between oxygen atoms and thermal electrons [Mishin et al, 2018].…”

“…To continue [Mishin et al, 2018], we analyze the behavior of short-period pulsations in greater detail here. In this analysis, we also included the 2000 Apr 6 superstorm, during which Zolotukhina [2005] from data of the Mondy (MND) Observatory investigated the irregular pulsations of the decay period (IPDP) and the Pc1,2 pulsations, but the author did not address the PiB pulsations, as well as the relation between the pulsations and field-aligned currents (FACs) and airglow.…”