Aurora Sightings Observed in Chinese History Caused by CIRs or Great-storm CMEs

Abstract

Abstract Auroras observed at middle and low geographic latitudes are related to external inputs and varying geomagnetic fields. This work aims to exclude corotating interaction region (CIR) storms and identify strong coronal mass ejection (CME) storms according to historical auroral records when the geomagnetic field varies substantially. An existing catalog of the aurora records in Chinese history reported by Zeng & Jin from 193 B.C. to 1911 A.D. is used. Archaeomagnetic field models are adopted to estimate the variation of the dipole field. According to the empirical relation between the equatorward boundary of the auroral oval, Dst index, and geomagnetic field intensity, the auroras caused by CIRs can be excluded, and those caused by strong CMEs are identified. After 1500 A.D., China’s magnetic latitude decreased substantially due to the pole shift. This shift provides a better opportunity to investigate the existence of great-level storms. These great-storm CMEs occurred in both solar maximum and minimum. The space weather modeling framework is used to calculate the cusp area and the downward ion flux through the cusp for varied geomagnetic field and solar wind. For the present solar wind condition and tilt angle <15°, stronger geomagnetic field tends to generate a larger cusp area and higher ion flux through the cusp. For the weaker solar wind in the Maunder minimum, the ion flux is lower, but the cusp area is similar to that at present.