Effects of CME-induced Geomagnetic Storm on Geomagnetic Induced Current at High and Middle Latitudes

Abstract

Geomagnetic storm has been one of greatest events in space weather studies. Apart from the formation of aurora, geomagnetic induced current (GIC) is also induced during the storm when the storm intensity gets severe. Coronal mass ejection (CME) is a massive eruption created by the Sun and is believed to be the driver of geomagnetic storm. This paper is aimed to examine the effects of CME-induced geomagnetic storm on geomagnetic induced current (GIC) at high and middle latitudes by studying four levels of storm: minor (Kp 5), moderate (Kp 6), strong (Kp 7) and severe (Kp 8). We applied qualitative analysis through descriptive approach to describe the relationship between the storm intensity and GIC activity. Since the exact value of GIC were inaccessible, we adopted horizontal component time derivative magnetic field (dH/dt) as the indicator for GIC activity. At the end of the study, we found that the GIC highly depends on the storm intensity, by which higher levels of storm triggers more actively induced current. Besides, high latitude ionosphere was showing strong reactions to the storm arrival compared to middle latitude ionosphere as the magnitudes of dH/dt recorded by Barrow station at high latitude fluctuated within wider and higher range.

On propagation of gradual and impulsive Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

“…As the CMEs approaching Earth's vicinity and in contact with the atmosphere, ground instruments and human high-technology activities are highly affected such as satellites breakdowns, damaged power grids and disruption of communication and navigation systems. Besides, CMEs appear to be the main cause of geomagnetic storm that is likely to be induced at high and middle latitude locations [4]. Variations in solar activity, including solar flares and CMEs are proven to have caused in changing of Earth's climate pattern considering the amount of heat produced and received by the Earth [5].…”