On the identification of the spatiotemporal locations of solar wind structures during an intense geomagnetic storm

Abstract

Available literature indicates that various studies do not adequately provide information on the temporal locations of solar wind structures, which leaves a gap that needs to be filled. In response, a study of the geomagnetic storm of Oct 13, 2016, is carried out to fill this gap by identifying the spatiotemporal locations of solar wind structures responsible for the geomagnetic storm to effectively elucidate ionospheric responses during a geomagnetic storm, as well as enable the determination by further studies of the global relative geo-effectiveness of these structures as it were. Primarily, the investigation aimed to confirm if the typical simplified structure of all CMEs consists of a forward shock followed by the sheath and the magnetic cloud. Now, this study has brought forth some distinct/previously unseen results: A typical simplified structure of a CME consists of a forward shock followed by the sheath and the magnetic cloud. Our findings revealed a sandwich structure of sheath-magnetic cloud-sheath following the forward shock with the following spatiotemporal arrangement for the solar wind structures: (a) Sheath I, observed from 2 Oct 13 to 3 Oct 14, spanning: (i) the initial phase: 2–7 UT, Oct 13 (ii) the main phase:7–23 UT, Oct 13 (iii) the early parts of the recovery phase: 0–3 UT, Oct 14 (b) The Magnetic Cloud, observed through 03–09 UT, Oct 14, during the recovery phase. (c) Sheath II, observed during the recovery phase from 9 to 23 Oct 14.