A Statistical Study of Magnetic Strom Recovery Phase: Preliminary Results

Abstract

A statistical study has been performed of the magnetic storm recovery phase using the Dst index for 102 storm events in the interval January 1996 to December 1998. In 43 cases (or 42%) out of our 102 events, the recovery phase exhibits fast recovery (taking about 8 hours or less) at its initial stage or for the entire recovery period. Since this fast recovery can be explained by the fast charge exchange loss of O+ ions which mostly come from the ionosphere, and since a fraction of H+ ions is of ionospheric origin as well, our statistical result supports the view that the source of ring current ions in many magnetic storms can be terrestrial.

Keywords

• STORM
• SPACE WEATHER
• RING CURRENT