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Ann. Geophys., 26, 639-652, 2008
www.ann-geophys.net/26/639/2008/
© European Geosciences Union 2008

Specification of multiple geomagnetic responses to variable solar wind and IMF input

Shing F. Fung¹ and Xi Shao^2
1Heliospheric Physics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD 20771, USA
²Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland College Park, MD, 20742, USA

Abstract. This paper shows that the state of the magnetosphere, resulting from continuous but variable forcing of the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), can be empirically specified by a magnetospheric state vector Ψ, consisting of a set of hourly-averaged magnetospheric driver and response parameters. It is demonstrated that there exists a correspondence between the magnetospheric driver and multiple geomagnetic response parameters. This parameter correspondence allows different magnetopsheric states to be specified by means of a look-up table, provided that the relative time lags between various driver (e.g. V_sw, IMF) and response parameters (e.g. K_p, D_st, and AE) are taken into account. Using the magnetospheric state specifications, multi-scale geomagnetic responses can then be simultaneously prescribed statistically from their corresponding driver parameters. Magnetospheric state specifications have been determined by using magnetospheric state parameter data taken in 1970–2000. Their validities have been tested by specifying the multi-geomagnetic responses over three representative intervals: (1) a magnetic cloud event, (2) a period of multiple storms, and (3) the years of 2001 and 2002. For all the intervals, we have found good correlation (with r>0.75) between the prescribed and observed geomagnetic indices at hourly resolution, and the magnetospheric state specifications are thus validated.

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