Studying ionospheric responses to magnetic storms depending on the local time of the storm main phase onset

Abstract

A morphological analysis of vertical sounding data obtained in Irkutsk from 2003 to 2008 has been performed. The AE index was used to determine the geomagnetic activity level, and the storm main phase onset was registered based on the D st index. The ionospheric response to a magnetic storm was estimated based on the relative deviation of the critical frequency and altitude of the ionospheric F2 region from the median values. Superstrong magnetic storms and storms without positive initial phases were not considered when the data were selected. We found that positive ionospheric disturbances, which were accompanied by an increase in the F2 region maximum altitude, predominated between the storm initial phase and main phases during all considered magnetic storms. Between these storm phases, negative disturbances were only registered at night. Predominance of positive ionospheric disturbances over negative ones can be related to the selection of storms for studies.