Occurrence of sporadic-E layer over the ionospheric station of Rome: Analysis of data for thirty-two years

Hourly systematic measurements of the highest frequency reflected by the sporadic-E layer (foEs) recorded at the Rome ionospheric observatory (Italy, 41.8° N, 12.5° E), were considered during the period January 1976–December 2007, to calculate the percentage of occurrence of sporadic-E layer with frequencies foEs greater than a given threshold value f_T, P(foEs > f_T).     

Variations of Thermosphere Density Based on Joint Analysis of In-Situ Measurement Data From Shenzhou Spacecrafts

Based on the measurements made by Atmospheric Density Detectors (ADDs) onboard Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou 2-4, the variations of thermosphere density are revealed. During the quiet period, the density at spacecraft altitude of 330～410km exhibited a dominant diurnal variation, with high value on dayside and low value on nightside. The ratio of the diurnal maximum density to the minimum ranged from 1.7 to 2.0. The ratio shows a positive correlation with the level of solar activity and a negative correlation with the level of geomagnetic activity. When a geomagnetic disturbance comes, the atmospheric density at the altitude of 330～410km displayed a global enhancement. For a strong geomagnetic disturbance, the atmospheric density increased by about 56%, and reached its maximum about 6～7 hours after the geomagnetic disturbance peak. The density asymmetry was also observed both in the southern and northern hemisphere during the geomagnetic disturbance peak.      

Geoeffectiveness of interplanetary shocks controlled by impact angles: A review

The high variability of the Sun’s magnetic field is responsible for the generation of perturbations that propagate throughout the heliosphere. Such disturbances often drive interplanetary shocks in front of their leading regions. Strong shocks transfer momentum and energy into the solar wind ahead of them which in turn enhance the solar wind interaction with magnetic fields in its way. Shocks then eventually strike the Earth’s magnetosphere and trigger a myriad of geomagnetic effects observed not only by spacecraft in space, but also by magnetometers on the ground. Recently, it has been revealed that shocks can show different geoeffectiveness depending closely on the angle of impact. Generally, frontal shocks are more geoeffective than inclined shocks, even if the former are comparatively weaker than the latter. This review is focused on results obtained from modeling and experimental efforts in the last 15?years. Some theoretical and observational background are also provided.     

Scientific progress of combined exploration DSP and Cluster: 2008—2010

The combined observations of Double Star and Cluster missions allow for, for the first time, six-point measurements of the main plasma parameters in the key scientific regions of the near-Earth environment. In the past two years, a great number of works were made based on the data from DSP and Cluster missions, advancing remarkably the research of magnetospheric physics in China. This paper briefly reviews these important scientific results based on 51 selected publications.      

磁暴期间的地磁导航精度分析

地磁导航是无源自主导航技术研究的新方向. 分析了地磁导航的基本原理, 描述了典型磁暴过程, 并针对地磁导航在磁暴环境中的适用性进行了研究. 在采用曲面样条方法对实测地磁场数据建立观测模型的基础上, 结合广义卡尔曼滤波方法讨论了磁暴不同阶段对地磁导航精度造成的影响. 分别采用理论典型磁暴数据以及实测磁暴数据进行仿真, 仿真结果表明, 在磁暴的初相、恢复相的中后时段以及中等强度以下的磁暴全过程仍然可以采用地磁来进行导航定位, 导航精度在200 m以内, 满足飞行器中程制导的精度要求.      

电离层暴时经验模型STORM在中国区域的适应性研究

利用中国区域内9个垂测站1976---1987年一个太阳活动周期的电离层暴时f0F2数据, 统计分析了电离层暴事件的等级, 以及不同等级的电离层暴随季节和地磁纬度的分布特征. 研究发现, 中小型电离层暴在春秋季发生的概率较大, 不同季节的发生次数与地磁纬度具有明显的关系. 利用STORM模型对电离层暴时f0F2和大型及特大型电离层暴时f0F2的预测值与月中值进行了比较. 结果表明, 除了冬季误差增大外, 发生电离层暴时STORM模型能够有效地改善月中值模型. 增加中国的暴时数据, 并提高对冬季的暴时参数f0F2的预测是改善STORM模型的重要因素. 建立合适的暴时指数来预测f0F2是未来研究的重点.      

Solar and interplanetary precursors of geomagnetic storms in solar cycle 23

Estimating the magnetic storm effectiveness of solar and associated interplanetary phenomena is of practical importance for space weather modelling and prediction. This article presents results of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the probable causes of geomagnetic storms during the 11-year period of solar cycle 23: 1996–2006. Potential solar causes of 229 magnetic storms (Dst ? −50 nT) were investigated with a particular focus on halo coronal mass ejections (CMEs). A 5-day time window prior to the storm onset was considered to track backward the Sun’s eruptions of halo CMEs using the SOHO/LASCO CMEs catalogue list. Solar and interplanetary (IP) properties associated with halo CMEs were investigated and correlated to the resulting geomagnetic storms (GMS). In addition, a comparative analysis between full and partial halo CME-driven storms is established. The results obtained show that about 83% of intense storms (Dst ? −100 nT) were associated with halo CMEs. For moderate storms (−100 nT < Dst ? −50 nT), only 54% had halo CME background, while the remaining 46% were assumed to be associated with corotating interaction regions (CIRs) or undetected frontside CMEs. It was observed in this study that intense storms were mostly associated with full halo CMEs, while partial halo CMEs were generally followed by moderate storms. This analysis indicates that up to 86% of intense storms were associated with interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) at 1 AU, as compared to moderate storms with only 44% of ICME association. Many other quantitative results are presented in this paper, providing an estimate of solar and IP precursor properties of GMS within an average 11-year solar activity cycle. The results of this study constitute a key step towards improving space weather modelling and prediction.     

Ionospheric response to the 3 August 2010 geomagnetic storm at mid and mid-high latitudes

The global ionospheric response to the geomagnetic storm occurred of 3 August 2010 is studied in terms of the ionospheric parameter foF2. Data from three longitudinal sectors (Asia/Pacific, Europe/Africa and America) are considered. Some new aspects of the storm time ionospheric behavior are revealed. Results of the analysis show that the main ionospheric effects of the storm under consideration are: (a) prior to the storm, Japanese, Australian and American stations show increases in foF2, irrespective of the local time. (b) During the main phase, the stations of mid latitudes of the American sector show positive disturbances (in the pre-dusk hours), which subsequently change to negative. (c) During the recovery phase of the magnetic storm long-duration positive disturbances are observed at mid-low latitudes of the African chain. Also positive disturbances are observed in the Australian sector. In the European sector long-duration negative disturbances are seen at mid-high latitudes during the last part of the recovery phase while at mid-low latitudes a positive disturbance is seen, followed by a negative disturbance. In general, the ionospheric storm effects show a clear hemispheric asymmetry.     

磁云膨胀速度对无力场磁通量管模型拟合结果的影响

为了考察磁云膨胀速度对磁通量管模型拟合结果的影响,选取了1998-2003年中15次引起了较大地磁暴(Dstmin＜-50 nT)的典型磁云事件进行了拟合.与未考虑膨胀速度模型的拟合结果比较,膨胀速度的引入能较好地改善拟合结果,与观测数据的偏差最大能减小30%,并且拟合所得的膨胀速度基本符合统计规律.这个结果说明膨胀的磁通量管模型能更好地反映实际观测的磁云.同时,初步分析了考虑膨胀速度前后磁云各拟合参数的变化.      

冕洞特征参数与重现型地磁暴关系的统计研究

在提取冕洞特征参数的基础上,利用1996年到2005年8月近十年来对地磁扰动有影响的356个冕洞事例,定量分析了冕洞特征参数(包括冕洞的面积比、经纬度跨度等)与冕洞高速流特征、重现型地磁扰动特征(包括扰动大小和持续时间等)之间的相关性,研究发现,从引起地磁扰动的冕洞在整个太阳活动周的分布来看,在地磁扰动峰年中冕洞影响同样具有重要的贡献;冕洞高速流太阳风速度与地磁扰动强度之间存在较强的相关性,而高速流中太阳风速度与冕洞面积比关系不大,与冕洞亮度存在一定相关性;冕洞的经度跨度与地磁扰动持续时间存在很强的正相关性.