Geoeffectiveness of the inner magnetosphere under the impact of fast solar wind currents: Case of solar cycles 20 to 23

Abstract

Earth's magnetosphere is a magnetic shield that protects the Earth from the energetic emissions of the high-speed Solar Wind (HSSW). We perform a statistical analysis of the response of Earth's magnetosphere inner part under the impact of HSSW over 40 years of data encompassing solar cycles 20-23. With misidentified events or events interacting with interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) removed, only 23552 events were identified. The results we obtained show that more than 85% of the events recorded from 1964 to 2009 are generated by coronal holes (CHs). Almost all observations were confined between 250-800 km/s and show a unimodal distribution per solar cycle: (1) 93% of the solar wind (SW) velocities are on the order of 567.77 ± 2.46 km/s for solar cycle 20, (2) 81% of the SW velocities are worth 524.30 ± 2.69 km/s for cycle 21, (3) 92% of the SW velocities progress to 565.15 ± 2.72 km/s for cycle 22, and (4) 75% of the SW velocities show a value on the order of 530.38 ± 2.22 km/s for cycle 23. Furthermore, our analysis shows a lower electron density at the beginning of the cycle (48%) than at the end of the solar cycle (52%). Thus HSSWs are more frequent at the end of solar cycles, while the magnetospheric electric field (EM) instead shows dominant features during the upward phase of odd cycles and the downward phase of even cycles. Therefore, the stability of the inner magnetosphere is more significant during the decline of solar cycles.