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The Dst index underestimates the solar cycle variation of geomagnetic activity
Author(s) -
Temerin Michael,
Li Xinlin
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2015ja021467
Subject(s) - earth's magnetic field , ring current , index (typography) , classification of discontinuities , atmospheric sciences , discontinuity (linguistics) , secular variation , physics , environmental science , mathematics , magnetic field , geophysics , mathematical analysis , quantum mechanics , world wide web , computer science
It is known that the correction of the Kyoto Dst index for the secular variation of the Earth's internal field produces a discontinuity in the Kyoto Dst index at the end of each year. We show that this secular correction also introduces a significant baseline error to the Kyoto Dst index that leads to an underestimate of the solar cycle variation of geomagnetic activity and of the strength of the ring current as measured by the Kyoto Dst index. Thus, the average value of the Kyoto Dst index would be approximately 13 nT more negative for the active year 2003 compared to quiet years 2006 and 2009 if the Kyoto Dst index properly measured the effects of the ring current and other currents that influence the Dst observatories. Discontinuities in the Kyoto Dst index at the end of each year have an average value of about 5 nT, but the discontinuity at the end of year 2002 was approximately 12 nT, and the discontinuity at the end of year 1982 may have been as large as 20 nT.