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International Journal of Recent Trends in Science and Technology, ISSN 2277-2812 E-ISSN: 2249-8109

Volume 9, Issue 2, December 2013 pp 230-232

Research Article

Is Solar Wind Turbulence a Driver of Geomagnetic Activity at Mid-Low Latitudes?

 

E.B.I. Ugwu1,2, F.N. Okeke1, O.J. Ugonabo1

1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nigeria, Postal Code 410001, Nsukka, NIGERIA.

2Natural Science Unit, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, NIGERIA.


Academic Editor : Dr. Aher K.R.

Abstract

 

The coupling of solar wind to the magnetosphere is one of the widely studied dynamical processes that characterize the Sun-Earth coupled system. In this work, the effects of solar wind magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence on geomagnetic field at the mid-low latitudes during the year 2009 when the Sun nearly plunged into the Maunder minimum was studied statistically. We characterized the MHD Alfvénic turbulence by means of 2-D histograms and related these histograms to the behaviour of geomagnetic activity at mid-low latitudes as measured by ASY-D, ASY-H, SYM-D, and SYM-H indices. We discovered that geomagnetic activity at mid-low latitudes is not driven by solar wind Alfvénic turbulence during period of low solar activity.