What causes geomagnetic activity during sunspot minimum?

Abstract

It is well known that the main drivers of geomagnetic disturbances are coronal mass ejections whose number and intensity are maximum in sunspot maximum, and high speed solar wind streams from low latitude solar coronal holes which maximize during sunspot declining phase. But even during sunspot minimum periods when there are no coronal mass ejections and no low latitude solar coronal holes, there is some “floor” below which geomagnetic activity never falls. Moreover, this floor changes from cycle to cycle. Here we analyze the factors determining geomagnetic activity during sunspot minimum. It is generally accepted that the main factor is the thickness of the heliospheric current sheet on which the portion of time depends which the Earth spends in the slow and dense heliospheric current sheet compared to the portion of time it spends in the fast solar wind from superradially expanding polar coronal holes. We find, however, that though the time with fast solar wind has been increasing in the last four sunspot minima, the geomagnetic activity in minima has been decreasing. The reason is that the parameters of the fast solar wind from solar coronal holes change from minimum to minimum, and the most important parameter for the fast solar wind’s geoeffectivity—its dynamic pressure—has been decreasing since cycle 21. Additionally, we find that the parameters of the slow solar wind from the heliospheric current sheet which is an important driver of geomagnetic activity in sunspot minimum also change from cycle to cycle, and its magnetic field, velocity and dynamic pressure have been decreasing during the last four minima.