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    Effects of the Geomagnetic Superstorms of 10–11 May 2024 and 7–11 October 2024 on the Ionosphere and Plasmasphere

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    Authors
    Pierrard, V.
    Verhulst, T.G.W.
    Chevalier, J.-M.
    Bergeot, N.
    Winant, A.
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    Discipline
    Physical sciences
    Subject
    Mother’s Day
    geomagnetic storms
    ionosphere
    plasmasphere
    VTEC
    Audience
    Scientific
    Date
    2025
    Metadata
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    Description
    On 10 May 2024 at 17 h:07 UTC, the simultaneous arrival of several solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) generated the strongest geomagnetic storm of the last twenty years, with a minimum Dst = −412 nT, usually referred to as the Mother’s Day event. On 10 October 2024, the second strongest event of solar cycle 25 appeared with a Dst = −335 nT, preceded on 8 October by an event with a Dst = −153 nT. In the present work, with measurements of the vertical total electron content and with ionosonde observations from Europe, USA, and South Korea, we show that the ionization of the upper atmosphere shortly increased at the arrival of the CME for these different events, followed by a fast decrease at all latitudes. The ionization remained very low for more than a full day. While the recovery started at the beginning of the second day after the onset for both events in October, the sudden recovery in the middle of the second day on 12 May is much more unusual. The analysis of the observations at different latitudes and longitudes shows that the causes of the ionization variations during the superstorms were mainly due to strong perturbations in the ionospheric F layer, amplified by the plasmasphere’s influence on the vertical total electron content (VTEC). The erosion of the plasmasphere during these two strong events led to a plasmapause located at exceptionally low radial distances smaller than 2 Re (Earth’s radii) in the post-midnight sector and a rotating plume in the afternoon–dusk sector clearly visible in the BSPM plasmasphere model. It took several days after the storms to recover normal ionization rates.
    Citation
    Pierrard, V.; Verhulst, T.G.W.; Chevalier, J.-M.; Bergeot, N.; Winant, A. (2025). Effects of the Geomagnetic Superstorms of 10–11 May 2024 and 7–11 October 2024 on the Ionosphere and Plasmasphere. , Atmosphere, Vol. 16, Issue 3, A299, DOI: 10.3390/atmos16030299.
    Identifiers
    uri: https://orfeo.belnet.be/handle/internal/13987
    doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos16030299
    url:
    Type
    Article
    Peer-Review
    Yes
    Language
    eng
    Links
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