Determination of Main Periodicities in Solar Wind and Magnetosphere Data During HILDCAAs Events Using Wavelet Analysis

Abstract:

The High-Intensity Long-Duration Continuous AE activity events (HILDCAAs) were first identified by Tsurutani and Gonzalez (1987), when they studied geomagnetic storms with a recovery phase longer than what is generally observed. They have used four criteria for defining the HILDCAA events, that are: First, the AE index must be 1000 nT at least once during the event; second, the event must be at last two days long; third, the AE index can not decay more than 200 nT for longer than two hours in each time; finally, the event must occurs outside of the main phase of the geomagnetic storm. Although several works have been done recently on HILCAAS, the main periodicities in solar wind and magnetosphere parameters during these events are still not well know. It is the aim of this work to determine these periods. In order to conduct this study, the global spectrum wavelet was used to determine the main periods of HILDCAA events. The 1-minute AE index and the Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) were used to characterize the magnetosphic and solar wind. We have used data of events that occurred between 1975 and 2011 for the AE index, and between 1995 and 2011 for Bz component of the IMF (GSE and GSM coordinates systems). During HILDCAAs events, the main periods found in the AE index were between 4 and 12 hours, corresponding to 50% of the total periods identified. For the Bz component, the main periods were ≤ 8 hours, independently of the coordinate system used. We conjecture that those periods can be associates with Alfvén waves that present periods between 1 and 10 hours. These Alfven waves are associated to coronal holes because the HILDCAAs events occur more often in the descending phase of solar cycles, when the high speed streams are dominant and it are emitted from coronal holes. Cross-wavelet analysis results between IMF Bz and AE are also presented and discussed.