Open AccessMagnetospheric contribution to K ‐indices
Author(s) -
Papitashvili N. E.,
Papitashvili V. O.,
Belov B. A.,
Hakkinen L.,
Sucksdorff C.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
geophysical journal international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0956-540X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1992.tb00582.x
Subject(s) - ionosphere , index (typography) , variation (astronomy) , scaling , series (stratigraphy) , mathematics , geophysics , disturbance (geology) , geology , statistics , geodesy , mathematical analysis , physics , computer science , geometry , astrophysics , paleontology , world wide web
SUMMARY Comparing hand‐scaled K ‐indices and some machine‐produced ones it was found that observers often include smooth disturbances into their solar regular (SR) curves (expressing the regular part of the variation of a magnetic element ascribed to ionospheric currents) and obtain smaller K ‐indices than the real strength of the disturbance would require. In some cases the opposite has also been found. Using models of the known current systems, the contributions of disturbances to the SR curves, and hence to the K ‐indices, are shown. Recognizing the importance of continuing the scaling of the K ‐indices in the same way as has been done for data series more than a hundred years long, there is a need for a new index which should take into account modern knowledge of the disturbances. The characteristics of a new index are proposed based on an SR variation which does not contain effects from disturbances.