Numerical study on the response of the Earth’s magnetosphere-ionosphere system to a super solar storm

Abstract

With the approaching of the 24th solar cycle peak year (2012–2014), the impacts of super solar storms on the geospace environment have drawn attentions. Based on the geomagnetic field observations during Carrington event in 1859, we estimate the interplanetary solar wind conditions at that time, and investigate the response of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system to this extreme solar wind conditions using global 3D MHD simulations. The main findings include: 1) The day-side magnetopause and bow shock are compressed to 4.3 and 6.0 Re (Earth radius), and their flanks are also strongly compressed. The magnetopause shifts inside the geosynchronous orbit, exposing geosynchronous satellites in the solar wind in the magnetosheath. 2) During the storm, the region-1 current increases by about 60 times, and the cross polar potential drop increases by about 80 times; the reconnection voltage is about 5 to 6 times larger than the average storms, which means a larger amount of the solar wind energy enters the magnetosphere, resulting in strong space weather phenomena.