Beyond the Minisolar Maximum of Solar Cycle 24: Declining Solar Magnetic Fields and the Response of the Terrestrial Magnetosphere

Abstract

AbstractThe present study examines the response of the terrestrial magnetosphere to the long‐term steady declining trends observed in solar magnetic fields and solar wind microturbulence levels since mid‐1990s that has been continuing beyond the minisolar maximum of cycle 24. A detailed analysis of the response of the terrestrial magnetosphere has been carried out by studying the extent and shape of the Earth's magnetopause and bow shock over the past four solar cycles. We estimate subsolar stand‐off distance of the magnetopause and bow shock and the shape of the magnetopause, using numerical as well as empirical models. The computed magnetopause and bow shock stand‐off distances have been found to be increasing steadily since around mid‐1990s, consistent with the steady declining trend seen in solar magnetic fields and solar wind microturbulence levels. Similarly, we find an expansion in the shape of the magnetopause since 1996. The implications of the increasing trend seen in the magnetopause and bow shock stand‐off distances are discussed and a forecast of the shape of the magnetopause in 2020, the minimum of cycle 24, has been made. Importantly, we also find two instances between 1968 and 1991 when the magnetopause stand‐off distance dropped to values close to 6.6 Earth radii, the geostationary orbit, for duration ranging from 9–11 hr and one event in 2005, post 1995 when the decline in photospheric fields began. Though there have been no such events since 2005, it represents a clear and present danger to our satellite systems.