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Ann. Geophys., 21, 1095-1100, 2003
www.ann-geophys.net/21/1095/2003/
© European Geosciences Union 2003
An investigation into the correlation of geomagnetic storms with tropospheric parameters over the South Pole
M. M. Lam and A. S. Rodger
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road,Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
Abstract. We test the proposal that
the Sun’s magnetic activity, communicated via the solar wind, provides a link
between solar variability and the Earth’s climate in the Antarctic
troposphere. The strength of a geomagnetic storm is one indicator of the state
of the solar wind; therefore, we use the dates of 51 moderate to strong winter
geomagnetic storms from the period 1961–1990 to conduct a series of
superposed epoch analyses of the winter South Pole isobaric height and
temperature, at pressures of between 100–500 mbar. Using Student’s t -test
to compare the mean value of the pre- and post-storm data sets, we find no
evidence to support the hypothesis that there is a statistically-significant
correlation between the onset of a geomagnetic storm and changes in the
isobaric temperature or height of the troposphere and lower stratosphere over
the South Pole during winter months. This concurs with a similar study of the
variability of the troposphere and lower stratosphere over the South Pole (Lam
and Rodger, 2002) which uses drops in the level of observed galactic cosmic ray
intensity, known as Forbush decreases, as a proxy for solar magnetic activity
instead of geomagnetic storms.
Key words. Interplanetary physics
(solar wind plasma; cosmic rays) – Atmospheric composition and structure
(pressure, density and temperature)
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