Estimating the Geoelectric Field and Electric Power Transmission Line Voltage During a Geomagnetic Storm in Alberta, Canada Using Measured Magnetotelluric Impedance Data: The Influence of Three‐Dimensional Electrical Structures in the Lithosphere

Abstract

Large geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) on the surface of the Earth are caused by perturbations to the coupled solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system during geomagnetic storms. Large GMDs can result in geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) which have the potential to cause significant damage to electrical power grids (e.g., Boteler, 2001Boteler, , 2014Kelbert, 2020). These quasi-DC currents develop because

Mapping Geoelectric Field Hazards in Ireland

“…We identified both regions and directions in which the geoelectric field is more prone to be driven across the island of Ireland for the first time. We found a substantial directional component in the 3D modeled geoelectric fields (alongside other studies such as Cordell et al., 2021; Murphy et al., 2021; Love et al., 2022) with the direction of the geoelectric field strongly inhomogeneous, often an order of magnitude greater in specific direction (Figure 6). Most literature modeling GIC uses 1D and 2D geoelectric fields (e.g., Bailey et al., 2017; Beggan et al., 2013; Blake et al., 2018; Guo et al., 2015; Kelly et al., 2017), due to the lack of available 3D MT‐TF, or 3D geoelectrical resistivity models at the time.…”

Mapping a Magnetic Superstorm: March 1989 Geoelectric Hazards and Impacts on United States Power Systems

“…Inversions of the magnetotelluric tensors reveal substantial three‐dimensional structure in the Piedmont and neighboring Appalachian Mountains (e.g., Kelbert et al., 2019; Murphy and Egbert, 2017; Ogawa et al., 1996). Other investigators, in comparing impedance tensors derived from one‐dimensional physiographic models against magnetotelluric tensors, find that those derived from one‐dimensional models generally yield inferior estimates of storm‐induced geoelectric fields (e.g., Cordell et al., 2021; Simpson and Bahr, 2021; Torta et al., 2017). To this, it is worth emphasizing that each individual magnetotelluric tensor already embodies a substantial degree of natural averaging.…”

“…(2020) and first construct a 1‐min‐resolution sequence of maps of horizontal‐component geomagnetic field variation. Although our method and the data we use are specialized for the storm of March 1989, our method is similar to that which we use in related explorations of storm‐induced geoelectric fields (e.g., Love, Lucas et al., 2018; Love, Rigler et al., 2018; Lucas et al., 2018, 2020); related methods are used by other investigators in their own studies of geoelectric fields (e.g., Blake et al., 2016; Cordell et al., 2021; Marshalko et al., 2020; Marshall et al., 2020; Sokolova et al., 2019; Torta et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2020). We assume that the horizontal‐component of geomagnetic field variation B h ( t n | x , y ) at the Earth's surface and at each 1‐min instance in time t n is quasi‐static and that, with the Biot‐Savart law, field variation can be represented across the Earth in terms of an idealized “equivalent” set of overhead electric currents, $$${\mathbf{B}}_{h}\left({t}_{n}\vert x,y\right)={\left.\frac{{\mu }_{0}}{4\pi }{\int }_{{A}^{\prime }}\frac{\mathbf{J}\left({t}_{n},{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }\right)\times \left(\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }\right)}{\vert \mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }{\vert }^{3}}d{A}^{\prime }\right\vert }_{h}$$$ (e.g., Panofsky and Phillips, 1962, their Chapter 7–6).…”

The Correspondence Between Sudden Commencements and Geomagnetically Induced Currents: Insights From New Zealand

“…A critical consideration is the direction of the induced geoelectric field with respect to the conducting network. Therefore, the conductivity of the local geology is fundamentally important (e.g., Bedrosian & Love, 2015;Beggan, 2015;Dimmock et al, 2019;Cordell et al, 2021) as it will determine the direction and strength of the geoelectric field generated by a given rate of change of the magnetic field. The second important parameter is the geometry and properties of the power network (e.g., Beggan et al, 2013;Blake et al, 2018;Divett et al, 2018Divett et al, , 2020.…”