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PC index as an indicator of substorm development

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Space Weather Monitoring by Ground-Based Means

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Abstract

Dynamics of magnetic disturbances in the auroral zone are usually described by the ‘auroral indices’ AU and AL that characterize the intensity of magnetic disturbances produced, respectively, by eastward and westward electric currents (electrojets) flowing in the morning and evening sectors of the auroral zone. Their total, the AE index, is regarded as a measure of disturbance in the auroral zone. During substorm periods a powerful westward electrojet develops in the midnight auroral zone as a result of substorm current wedge formation (Birkeland, 1908) in response to strongly enhanced auroral particle precipitation and short-circuiting of neutral sheet currents through the high conductivity auroral ionosphere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Professor Oleg Troshichev & Dr Alexander Janzhura

Authors
  1. Professor Oleg Troshichev
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  2. Dr Alexander Janzhura
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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Troshichev, O., Janzhura, A. (2012). PC index as an indicator of substorm development. In: Space Weather Monitoring by Ground-Based Means. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16803-1_7

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