Periodic solar wind forcing due to recurrent coronal holes during 1996–2009 and its impact on Earth's geomagnetic and ionospheric properties during the extreme solar minimum

Abstract

Periodicities in the area of coronal hole (CH) regions on the solar disk and solar wind (SW) high‐speed streams (HSSs) have been studied, for the first time, during complete solar cycle 23 (SC 23) from 1996 to 2009 using solar EUV image data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and STEREO satellites and ACE solar wind‐magnetic data. Both the SW velocity and the area of CH regions consistently exhibit large values during the declining phase and the minimum of SC23 (2003–2009) due to equatorward extended holes and/or low‐latitude isolated holes. Further, the SW velocity and CH area exhibit a greater tendency for subharmonic (13.5 and 9 day) periodicities during the declining phase and solar minimum. The response of Earths' geomagnetic and ionospheric properties to these periodicities associated with corotating interaction regions in SW HSSs is studied, with a focus on the extremely low‐solar‐activity period of 2008. Subharmonic oscillations in both day‐ and nightside ionospheric electron density are found to correlate well with oscillations in SW and Kp during 2008. The topside ionospheric response (above 350 km) appears to be dominated by changes in the plasma temperature and/or scale height and exhibits concurrent enhancements with the oscillations in geomagnetic activity during both day‐ and nighttime. However, the electron density response at altitudes between 200 and 350 km is dominated by changes in the neutral composition and exhibits significant latitudinal, local time, and seasonal variations. The results are discussed in light of equatorward wind perturbations during enhanced geomagnetic activity and summer‐to‐winter transequatorial neutral wind patterns.