“Polar” Substorms During Slow Solar Wind

Abstract

“Polar” substorms are identified as substorm-like disturbances that are exclusively observed at high geomagnetic latitudes (>70° MLAT) and are absent at lower latitudes. Although “polar” substorms typically occur during periods of quiet geomagnetic activity, it is still unclear whether they can develop under extremely quiet conditions when geoeffective space weather parameters are exceptionally low. Utilizing data from the IMAGE network across the Svalbard archipelago within the longitudinal sector of (∼108–114 Mlong), we examined 92 “extremely quiet geomagnetic” intervals from 2010 to 2020, which were associated with intervals of extremely slow solar wind (ESSWs, V < 300 km/s). We discovered that “polar” substorms can occur during ESSWs, but only with the presence of a negative Bz component. A total of 32 such events were identified from 17 ESSW intervals (∼19% of all ESSW intervals). We found that “polar” substorms during ESSWs display the primary characteristics of ordinary substorms, including the accompaniment of Pi1B geomagnetic pulsations, positive subauroral or mid-latitude magnetic bays, a poleward shift of the westward electrojet, and auroral activity during their expansion phase. Additionally, it was found that the majority of “polar” substorm events during ESSWs (∼82%) were isolated substorms, developing solely in the pre-midnight sector without disturbances in other longitudinal sectors. Several “polar” substorm events have been examined in detail.