Sun Earth Connections: Impacts of Space Weather Events at Low Latitudes
摘要
At the equator, the Earth’s magnetic field is horizontal. The zonal ionospheric electric field and Earth’s magnetic field produce ExB plasma vertical drift. On the daytime, at low altitudes between 90 and 200 km, ExB drift pushes upward the ionospheric plasma. Above 200km, under the influence of gravity and pressure gradients, the plasma diffuses along the Earth’s magnetic field lines. These motions of the plasma create the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA/Equatorial Fountain). The EIA is composed by two density crests at ± 15° magnetic latitude and a density trough at the equator. The strengthening of the eastward electric field at the evening terminator at the magnetic equator (PRE) associated with the Rayleigh Taylor plasma instability generates the appearance of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPB). Another characteristic of the equatorial is the existence of the Equatorial Electrojet (EEJ) flowing along the magnetic equator. It is at low latitudes that the GNSS signal is the most disturbed by plasma bubbles (EPB). Space weather events affect the EIA, PRE, EPB and EEJ. In this paper, we will present the impact of various solar phenomena as Coronal Mass Ejections (CME), High Speed Solar Wind (HSSW), on middle and low latitudes and their effects on the GNSS signal and Earth’s magnetic field.