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AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Space Physics

 

Keywords

  • geosynchronous
  • plasma sheet
  • storms

Index Terms

  • Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma sheet
  • Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetosphere: inner
  • Space Weather: Magnetic storms
  • Space Weather: Solar effects
  • Magnetospheric Physics: Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions
Abstract
Cited By (24)
 

Abstract

Geomagnetic storms driven by ICME- and CIR-dominated solar wind

M. H. Denton

Space Science and Applications (ISR-1), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

J. E. Borovsky

Space Science and Applications (ISR-1), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

R. M. Skoug

Space Science and Applications (ISR-1), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

M. F. Thomsen

Space Science and Applications (ISR-1), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

B. Lavraud

Space Science and Applications (ISR-1), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

M. G. Henderson

Space Science and Applications (ISR-1), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

R. L. McPherron

Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

J. C. Zhang

Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

M. W. Liemohn

Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

The interaction of the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere is complex and the phenomenology of the interaction is very different for solar wind dominated by interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) compared to solar wind dominated by corotating interaction regions (CIRs). We perform a superposed epoch study of the effects of ICME- and CIR-dominated solar wind upon the storm-time plasma at geosynchronous orbit using data from the magnetospheric plasma analyzer (MPA) instruments on board seven Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) satellites. Using 78 ICME events and 32 CIR events, we examine the electron and ion plasma sheets that are formed during each type of solar wind driver, at energy-per-charge between ∼0.1 and 45 keV/q. The results demonstrate that CIR events produce a more significant modulation in the plasma sheet temperature than ICME events, whilst ICME events produce a more significant modulation in the plasma sheet density than CIR events. We attribute these differences to the average speed in the solar wind and a combination of the density of the solar wind and the ionospheric component of the plasma sheet, respectively. We also show that for CIR events, the magnitude of the spacecraft potential is, on average, significantly greater than during ICME-events, with consequent effects upon the performance of instrumentation within this environment.

Received 19 September 2005; accepted 7 February 2006; published 18 May 2006.

Citation: Denton, M. H., J. E. Borovsky, R. M. Skoug, M. F. Thomsen, B. Lavraud, M. G. Henderson, R. L. McPherron, J. C. Zhang, and M. W. Liemohn (2006), Geomagnetic storms driven by ICME- and CIR-dominated solar wind, J. Geophys. Res., 111, A07S07, doi:10.1029/2005JA011436.

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