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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. Ugwu^1,2, F.N. Okeke¹, O.J. Ugonabo¹

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

Academic Editor : Dr. Aher K.R.

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.