Characterization of the South Atlantic Anomaly

Abstract

This research intends to characterize the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) by applying the power spectrum analysis approach. The motivation to study the SAA region is due to its nature. A comparison was made between the stations in the SAA region and outside the SAA region during the geomagnetic storm occurrence (active period) and the normal period where no geomagnetic storm occurred. The horizontal component of the data of the Earth's magnetic field for the occurrence of the active period was taken on 11 March 2011 while for the normal period it was taken on 3 February 2011. The data sample rate used is 1 min. The outcome of the research revealed that the SAA region had a tendency to be persistent during both periods. It can be said that the region experiences these characteristics because of the Earth's magnetic field strength. Through the research, it is found that as the Earth's magnetic field increases, it is likely to show an antipersistent value. This is found in the high-latitude region. The lower the Earth's magnetic field, the more it shows the persistent value as in the middle latitude region. In the region where the Earth's magnetic field is very low like the SAA region it shows a tendency to be persistent.