Apposite of atmospheric electric parameters with the energy coupling function (ε) during geomagnetic storms at high latitude

• Main Authors: Kumar, C.P. Anil, Panneerselvam, C., Nair, K.U., Jeyakumar, H. Johnson, Selvaraj, C., Gurubaran, S., Venugopal, C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Global electric circuit; Interplanetary magnetic field; Energy coupling function; Atmospheric electricity; Geomagnetic storms; Maitri; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://14.139.123.141:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/449

In this paper we are concerned with the variation of the atmospheric electric field and the air–earth current due to the excessive power generated by the solar wind-magnetosphere dynamo during geomagnetic storms, recorded at Maitri in Antarctica during 2004. A major part of the power generated by the solar wind-magnetosphere dynamo is used in the formation of the ring current and the rest is utilized for Joule heating and auroral particle precipitation. The method adopted by Frank-Kamenetsky et al. [Frank-Kamenetsky A.V., Troshichev O.A., Burns G.B., Papitashvili V.O., 2001. Variations of atmospheric electric field in the near-pole region related to the interplanetary magnetic field. J. Geophys. Res. 106, A1, 179–190.] was utilized to delineate the variations due to the signatures of tropical thunderstorm activity from the geoelectric data; while statistical methods used in our earlier studies were used to delimit variation due to the constant buffeting of the solar wind. We find that the solar wind-magnetosphere energy coupling function (ε) to be well correlated with the atmospheric electric parameters during the onset of geomagnetic disturbances. However the correlation breaks down during minor storms and sub-storm events.