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Study of the low and mid-latitude ionospheric response to the geomagnetic storm of 20th December 2015

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Abstract

The ionospheric response over the low and mid-latitudes along the \(78^{\circ}\pm 3^{\circ}\)E longitude sector is studied for the 20th December 2015 geomagnetic storm. The global positioning system (GPS) derived total electron content (TEC) over mid & low-latitude stations and also an ionosonde observation of the F2 layer critical frequency over a mid-latitude station are analyzed. On the day of storm (20th December) the interplanetary magnetic field turned southward around 0330 UT and reached to its minimum value around −20 nT. SYM-H index started to decline at the same time and attained to its minimum value of about −180 nT at around 2330 UT after a very long main-phase duration (∼20 hours). During the storm’s main phase, a large TEC variation is observed for both the locations which have been attributed to the prompt penetration electric field (PPEF). The uniqueness of the observed TEC variation lies in the fact that while over the mid-latitude the TEC returned to its quiet time variations after the recovery phase, the enhancement in TEC over low-latitude has been observed even after two days (anomalous increase on 22nd December) of the storm which indicates the absence of disturb dynamo electric field (DDEF) for low-latitude over 78°E longitude. The thermospheric O/N2 data obtained both from, observations as well as CTIPe model simulation are in good agreement with the observed TEC variation except for the 22nd December over the mid-latitude location. This anomalous behavior on 22nd December over low-latitude could be due to some local dynamics or the transport of plasma by the background seasonal and storm time meridional winds over the studied region.

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Acknowledgements

For the solar (ram pressure, solar wind speed), interplanetary (IEF \(E_{y}\), IMF \(B_{z}\)) and geomagnetic indices (AE index, AL/AU index, SYM-H) data the authors are thankful to OMNIWeb, NASA (http://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/form/omni_min.html) and also thankful to WDC, Kyoto (http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dstdir/index.html) for \(K_{p}\) index data. The authors are thankful to CDDIS, NASA (cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gnss/data/daily/) for the GPS TEC data. The authors are thankful to Dr. Gopi Krishna Seemala, Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), Navi Mumbai, India for making available the software using which the RINEX formatted TEC data is processed. For providing the ionosonde data, the authors also thank National Center of Space Research and Technology (NCSRT), Kazakhstan. The ionosonde data can be accessed upon email request to one of the coauthors Dr. Galina Gordiyenko of NCSRT, Kazakhstan. The CTIPe simulation results have been provided by the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) at Goddard Space Flight Center through their public Runs on Request system (ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/models/modelinfo.php?model=CTIPe). The Coupled Thermosphere Ionosphere Plasmasphere Electrodynamics Model (CTIPe) model was developed by the Timothy Fuller-Rowell et al. at the NOAA SEC.

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  1. Airport Road, Bhati Abhoynagar, Agartala, West Tripura, 799002, Tripura, India

    Bapan Paul

  2. The Institute of Ionosphere, National Center of Space Research and Technology, Almaty, 050020, Kazakhstan

    Galina Gordiyenko

  3. Plot no. 47, in front of Techno NJR Bhamashah Industrial Area, Udaipur, 313003, Rajasthan, India

    Praveen Galav

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Paul, B., Gordiyenko, G. & Galav, P. Study of the low and mid-latitude ionospheric response to the geomagnetic storm of 20th December 2015. Astrophys Space Sci 365, 174 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-020-03884-5

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