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Effect of Interplanetary Shocks on the AL and Dst Indices
Author(s) -
Mays M. L.,
Horton W.,
Kozyra J.,
Zurbuchen T. H.,
Huang C.,
Spencer E.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl029844
Subject(s) - solar wind , magnetosphere , physics , interplanetary spaceflight , geomagnetic storm , geophysics , interplanetary magnetic field , shock (circulatory) , ionosphere , storm , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , plasma , nuclear physics , medicine
The question of how much interplanetary shock (IP) events contribute to the geoeffectiveness of solar wind drivers is assessed through numerical experiments using the WINDMI model, a physics‐based model of the solar wind‐driven magnetosphere‐ionosphere system. Analytic fits to solar wind input parameters ( B ⊥ IMF , u sw , n sw ) allowed shocks and associated shock‐sheath plasma to be removed while leaving other features of the solar wind driver undisturbed. Percent changes in WINDMI‐derived AL and Dst indices between runs with and without the observed shock and sheath signatures were taken as a measure of its relative contribution to the geoeffectiveness. The major magnetic storms during 15–24 April 2002 and 3–6 October 2000 were selected for this experiment. In both cases, the IP shock and sheath features contributed significantly to the geoeffectiveness of the solar wind driver. The magnetic field compressional jump is important to producing the changes in the AL during these two storm intervals.