Space Weather Effects Produced by the Ring Current Particles

Abstract

One of the definitions of space weather describes it as the time-varying space environment that may be hazardous to technological systems in space and/or on the ground and/or endanger human health or life. The ring current has its contributions to space weather effects, both in terms of particles, ions and electrons, which constitute it, and magnetic and electric fields produced and modified by it at the ground and in space. We address the main aspects of the space weather effects from the ring current starting with brief review of ring current discovery and physical processes and the Dst-index and predictions of the ring current and storm occurrence based on it. Special attention is paid to the effects on satellites produced by the ring current electrons. The ring current is responsible for several processes in the other inner magnetosphere populations, such as the plasmasphere and radiation belts which is also described. Finally, we discuss the ring current influence on the ionosphere and the generation of geomagnetically induced currents (GIC).

Statistics of Extreme Time‐Integrated Geomagnetic Activity

“…The above formulation of S C was derived by[46] to satisfy the following 3 requirements: (i) approximately reproducing the modulation of the probability of extreme IntDst events with solar cycle in 1958-2007, (ii) not altering the global 1958-2007 probability distribution P y of IntDst when multiplying it by S C , and (iii) using the simplest analytical form. The obtained simple formulation of S C[46] is indeed such that max[S n,y ] = 1 over solar cycles[19][20][21][22][23]. The normalization factor 210 of max[S n,y ] also nearly corresponds to the average value (= 205) of max[S n,y ] over solar cycles 19 to 23.…”

“…A larger statistics of significant (> 1000 nT·hr) events would be needed to draw more definitive conclusions. In addition, other parameters can affect the level of MeV electron flux relatively independently of Kp/ap, such as solar wind velocity and density [7], or even localized electric fields and the strength of dipolarizations [17,19]. The presence of such additional parameters and physical processes probably explains the variability of MeV electron fluxes for a given range of Int(ap) in Figure 5d and should not be overlooked.…”

“…Space weather is known to pose an important threat for satellites, due to the high fluence of energetic and relativistic electrons produced during disturbed periods [20,16,19,22,60]. Many studies have attempted to determine the most pertinent geomagnetic indices for characterizing such periods of high risk.…”

“…Important differences between ap and Dst indices most notably show up during high-speed solar wind streams that trigger substorms and weak magnetic storms. Such disturbances often produce elevated fluxes of MeV electrons at geosynchronous orbit, leading to significant internal charging and radiation dose effects in satellites, but barely affect low latitude magnetometers that provide the Dst index (e.g., [7,19,21]). MeV electron fluxes at L = 4 − 6 measured on low Earth orbit are better correlated with periods of ap > 22 nT than with Dst [23].…”

Intensity and Impact of the New York Railroad Superstorm of May 1921

“…We have identified magnetograms of reasonable completeness from four low‐latitude observatories suitable for obtaining an accurate estimate of the Dst time series for the May 1921 storm. Results provide new insight into the nature of magnetic superstorms (e.g., Ganushkina et al, ; Lakhina & Tsurutani, ) and the impacts that they might carry for modern technological systems (e.g., Baker et al, ; Cannon et al, ; Eastwood et al, ; Schieb & Gibson, ). This research is consistent with priorities established by the U.S. National Science and Technology Council (, ) and allied international organizations (Schrijver et al, ).…”