Where Do Sudden Impulses Matter?

Yi Qi, University of California, Los Angeles, Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, United States and Christopher T Russell, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Abstract:
Ground-induced currents are generated by strong, rapid increases in the horizontal component of the ionospheric/atmospheric electric field that create strong electric potential differences along long conductors such as power transmission lines. One way to create such a strong potential difference is the arrival of a sudden increase in dynamic pressure of the solar wind, such as with a change of density. It is difficult to determine where on the surface of the Earth such an event will cause the most harm, since the interaction of a discontinuity in density with the complex plasma environment of the Earth’s magnetosphere may not be entirely understood and is difficult to model. Fortunately, on March 14, 2016, the solar wind provided a plasma density enhancement with a rather strong signature of a readily identifiable shape that it could be recognized easily in ground-based records. We use the pressure structure to show where on Earth the strong pressure enhancement was preserved and when it was not.
Back to: Space Weather at Ground Level I Posters