• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.41.1-41.1
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• 2017

It is well known that there are good relations of coronal hole (CH) parameters such as the size, location, and magnetic field strength to the solar wind conditions and the geomagnetic storms. Especially in the minimum phase of solar cycle, CHs in mid- or low-latitude are one of major drivers for geomagnetic storms, since they form corotating interaction regions (CIRs). By adopting the method of Vrsnak et al. (2007), the Space Weather Research Center (SWRC) in Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has done daily forecast of solar wind speed and Dst index from 2010. Through years of experience, we realize that the geomagnetic storms caused by CHs have different characteristics from those by CMEs. Thus, we statistically analyze the characteristics and causality of the geomagnetic storms by the CHs rather than the CMEs with dataset obtained during the solar activity was very low. For this, we examine the CH properties, solar wind parameters as well as geomagnetic storm indices. As the first result, we show the different trends of the solar wind parameters and geomagnetic indices depending on the degree of solar activity represented by CH (quiet) or sunspot number (SSN) in the active region (active) and then we evaluate our forecasts using CH information and suggest several ideas to improve forecasting capability.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.149-157
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• 2014

As the prediction of geomagnetic storms is becoming an important and practical problem, conditions in the Earth's magnetosphere have been studied rigorously in terms of those in the interplanetary space. Another approach to space weather forecast is to deal with it as a probabilistic geomagnetic storm forecasting problem. In this study, we carry out detailed statistical analysis of solar wind parameters and geomagnetic indices examining the dependence of the distribution on the solar cycle and annual variations. Our main findings are as follows: (1) The distribution of parameters obtained via the superimposed epoch method follows the Gaussian distribution. (2) When solar activity is at its maximum the mean value of the distribution is shifted to the direction indicating the intense environment. Furthermore, the width of the distribution becomes wider at its maximum than at its minimum so that more extreme case can be expected. (3) The distribution of some certain heliospheric parameters is less sensitive to the phase of the solar cycle and annual variations. (4) The distribution of the eastward component of the interplanetary electric field BV and the solar wind driving function BV2, however, appears to be all dependent on the solar maximum/minimum, the descending/ascending phases of the solar cycle and the equinoxes/solstices. (5) The distribution of the AE index and the Dst index shares statistical features closely with BV and $BV^2$ compared with other heliospheric parameters. In this sense, BV and $BV^2$ are more robust proxies of the geomagnetic storm. We conclude by pointing out that our results allow us to step forward in providing the occurrence probability of geomagnetic storms for space weather and physical modeling.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.159-167
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• 2014

Solar variability is widely known to affect the interplanetary space and in turn the Earth's electromagnetical environment on the basis of common periodicities in the solar and geomagnetic activity indices. The goal of this study is twofold. Firstly, we attempt to associate modes by comparing a temporal behavior of the power of geomagnetic activity parameters since it is barely sufficient searching for common peaks with a similar periodicity in order to causally correlate geomagnetic activity parameters. As a result of the wavelet transform analysis we are able to obtain information on the temporal behavior of the power in the velocity of the solar wind, the number density of protons in the solar wind, the AE index, the Dst index, the interplanetary magnetic field, B and its three components of the GSM coordinate system, $B_X$, $B_Y$, $B_Z$. Secondly, we also attempt to search for any signatures of influence on the space environment near the Earth by inner planets orbiting around the Sun. Our main findings are as follows: (1) Parameters we have investigated show periodicities of ~ 27 days, ~ 13.5 days, ~ 9 days. (2) The peaks in the power spectrum of $B_Z$ appear to be split due to an unknown agent. (3) For some modes powers are not present all the time and intervals showing high powers do not always coincide. (4) Noticeable peaks do not emerge at those frequencies corresponding to the synodic and/or sidereal periods of Mercury and Venus, which leads us to conclude that the Earth's space environment is not subject to the shadow of the inner planets as suggested earlier.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2020

Pc1 pulsations are important to consider for the interpretation of wave-particle interactions in the Earth's magnetosphere. In fact, the wave properties of these pulsations change dynamically when they propagate from the source region in the space to the ground. A detailed study of the wave features can help understanding their time evolution mechanisms. In this study, we statistically analyzed Pc1 pulsations observed by a Bohyunsan (BOH) magneto-impedance (MI) sensor located in Korea (L = 1.3) for ~one solar cycle (November 2009-August 2018). In particular, we investigated the temporal occurrence ratio of Pc1 pulsations (considering seasonal, diurnal, and annual variations in the solar cycle), their wave properties (e.g., duration, peak frequency, and bandwidth), and their relationship with geomagnetic activities by considering the Kp and Dst indices in correspondence of the Pc1 pulsation events. We found that the Pc1 waves frequently occurred in March in the dawn (1-3 magnetic local time (MLT)) sector, during the declining phase of the solar cycle. They generally continued for 2-5 minutes, reaching a peak frequency of ~0.9 Hz. Finally, most of the pulsations have strong dependence on the geomagnetic storm and observed during the early recovery phase of the geomagnetic storm.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.81.2-81.2
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• 2011

Motivated by recent attempts to derive geomagnetic activity from hourly mean data in long term studies, we test the recursive Kalman filter method to obtain the regular solar variation curve of the geomagnetic field. Using a simple algorithm, we are able to assign a quiet day curve to every day separately, without the need for additional input parameter(s) to define the geomagnetically quiet days. We derive a digital counterpart AhK of the analog range index Ak at the subauroral Sodankyl$\ddot{a}$ station and compare it to the earlier digital estimate Ah and the local Ak index. We find that the new method outperforms the former estimate in every aspect studied and provides a robust, straightforward manner of estimating and verifying the manually scaled Ak index, based on readily available hourly values. The model is independent of sampling; thus, for shorter term studies where high-sampling data are available, more accurate estimates can also be obtained when needed. Therefore, in contrast to other recent approaches, we do not provide a method to quantify irregular activity directly but derive the actual quiet day curves in the traditional manner. In future applications the same algorithm may be used to define a wide variety of geomagnetic indices (such as Ak, Dst, or AE).

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.173-181
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• 2011

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute researchers have installed and operated magnetometers at Mt. Bohyun Observatory to measure the Earth's magnetic field variations in South Korea. We, in 2007, installed a fluxgate magnetometer (RFP-523C) to measure H, D, and Z components of the geomagnetic field. In addition, in 2009, we installed a Overhauser proton sensor to measure the absolute total magnetic field F and a three-axis magneto-impedance sensor for spectrum analysis. Currently three types of magnetometer data have been accumulated. In this paper, we provide the preliminary and the first statistical analysis using the BOH magnetometer installed at Mt. Bohyun Observatory. By superposed analysis, we find that daily variations of H, D, and Z shows similar tendency, that is, about 30 minutes before the meridian (11:28) a minimum appears and the time after about 3 hours and 30 minutes (15:28) a maximum appears. Also, a quiet interval start time (19:06) is near the sunset time, and a quiet interval end time (06:40) is near the sunrise time. From the sunset to the sunrise, the value of H has a nearly constant interval, that is, the sun affects the changes in H values. Seasonal variations show similar dependences to the sun. Local time variations show that noon region has the biggest variations and midnight region has the smallest variations. We compare the correlations between geomagnetic variations and activity indices as we expect the geomagnetic variation would contain the effects of geomagnetic activity variations. As a result, the correlation coefficient between H and Dst is the highest (r = 0.947), and other AL, AE, AU index and showed a high correlation. Therefore, the effects of geomagnetic storms and geomagnetic substorms might contribute to the geomagnetic changes significantly.