Recurrence-Based Quantification of Multi-Scale Dynamical Complexity in the Earth’s Magnetosphere

The Earth’s magnetosphere is characterized by a considerable degree of dynamical complexity resulting from the interaction of different multiscale processes, which can be both directly driven/triggered by changes of the interplanetary medium condition, and due to internal processes of the magnetosphere. This complexity can be characterized by following both “classical” and “new” dynamical system tools. Recent work has demonstrated that recurrence plot based techniques may play a pivotal role in such an assessment.

In this presentation, I will summarize some recent results on applications of recurrence quantification analysis and recurrence network analysis to different geomagnetic indices (Dst, SYM-H, ASY-H, AE) reflecting the variability of the Earth’s electromagnetic environment at different time-scales and magnetic latitudes. In addition, the same techniques are applied to some essential properties of the solar wind which are likely to have a relevant effect on geomagnetic field fluctuations and might serve as triggers of instability leading to geospace magnetic storms and/or magnetospheric substorms. The obtained findings underline that dynamical fluctuations of the geomagnetic field during periods of magnetospheric quiescence and storminess indeed exhibit distinctively different levels of dynamical complexity. Moreover, they provide additional evidence for a time-scale separation in magnetospheric dynamics that is further characterized by employing some multi-scale version of recurrence analysis utilizing a continuous wavelet transform of the signals of interest. The corresponding results can be of potential relevance for the development of improved approaches for space weather modelling and forecasting.

 

References:

R.V. Donner, V. Stolbova, G. Balasis, J.F. Donges, M. Georgiou, S. Potirakis, J. Kurths: Temporal organization of magnetospheric fluctuations unveiled by recurrence patterns in the Dst index. Chaos, 28, 085716 (2018)

R.V. Donner, G. Balasis, V. Stolbova, M. Georgiou, M. Wiedermann, J. Kurths: Recurrence based quantification of dynamical complexity in the Earth's magnetosphere at geospace storm timescales. Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics, 124, 90-108 (2019)

J. Lekscha, R.V. Donner: Areawise significance tests for windowed recurrence network analysis. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 475 (2228), 20190161 (2019)

T. Alberti, J. Lekscha, G. Consolini, P. De Michelis, R.V. Donner: Disentangling nonlinear geomagnetic variability during magnetic storms and quiescence by timescale dependent recurrence properties. Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate, 10, 25 (2020)