EGU21-2741, updated on 03 Mar 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-2741
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

High-latitude crochet (Solar flare effect) as a trigger of pseud-substorm onset

Masatoshi Yamauchi1, Magnar Johnsen2, Shin-Ichi Othani3, and Dmitry Sormakov4
Masatoshi Yamauchi et al.
  • 1Swedish Institude of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden (m.yamauchi@irf.se)
  • 2Tromsø Geophysical Observatory (TGO), UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
  • 3Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), Laurel, Maryland, USA
  • 4Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI), St. Petersburg, Russia

Solar flares are known to enhance the ionospheric electron density and thus influence the electric currents in the D- and E-region.  The geomagnetic disturbance caused by this current system is called a "crochet" or "SFE (solar flare effect)".  Crochets are observed at dayside low-latitudes with a peak near the subsolar region ("subsolar crochet"), in the nightside high-latitude auroral region with a peak where the geomagnetic disturbance pre-exists during solar illumination ("auroral crochet"), and in the cusp ("cusp crochet").  In addition, we recently found a new type of crochet on the dayside ionospheric current at high latitudes (European sector 70-75 geographic latitude/67-72 geomagnetic latitude) independent from the other crochets.  The new crochet is much more intense and longer in duration than the subsolar crochet and is detected even in AU index for about half the >X2 flares despite the unfavorable latitudinal coverage of the AE stations (~65 geomagnetic latitude) to detect this new crochet (Yamauchi et al., 2020).  

The signature is sometime s seen in AL, causing the crochet signature convoluting with substorms.  From a theoretical viewpoint, X-flares that enhances the ionospheric conductivity may influence the substorm activity, like the auroral crochet.  To understand the substorm-crochet relation in the dayside, we examined SuperMAG data for cases when the onset of the substorm-like AL (SML) behavior coincides with the crochet.  We commonly found a large counter-clockwise ∆B vortex centered at 13-15 LT, causing an AU peak during late afternoon and an AL peak near noon at higher latitudes than the high-latitude crochet.  In addition, we could recognize a clockwise ∆B vortex in the prenoon sector, causing another poleward ∆B, but this signature is not as clear as the afternoon vortex.  With such strong vortex features, it becomes similar to substorms except for its local time.  In some cases, the vortex expends to the nightside sector, where and when nightside onset starts, suggesting triggering of onset.  Thus, the crochet may behave like pseudo-onset at different latitude than midnight substorms, and may even trigger substorm onset.

How to cite: Yamauchi, M., Johnsen, M., Othani, S.-I., and Sormakov, D.: High-latitude crochet (Solar flare effect) as a trigger of pseud-substorm onset, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-2741, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-2741, 2021.

Displays

Display file