Understanding Midlatitude Space Weather: Storm Impacts Observed at Bear Lake Observatory on 31 March 2001
Abstract
On 30 March 2001 in the late evening an auroral display was observed over the United States of America. The Bear Lake Observatory (BLO) magnetometer in Utah measured changes of 550 nT in less than 30 min. During the same period, BLO ionosonde measurements showed deep high-frequency radio wave absorption up to 7 MHz. BLO's CPS single-frequency receiver experienced geolocation errors of 20 m for over 3 hours. These storm signatures were also. accompanied by L-band scintillation effects which approached an S4 value of O.2 which is large for midlatitudes. Although such measurements have been have been made at midlatitude locations for many decades, our knowledge of the processes and couplings involved in such events remains incomplete and, at best, qualitative. The interpretation of key ionospheric parameters' storm response is discussed in the context of present-day auroral and geospace electrodynamics questions and can provide almost no answers without observational inputs from other locations. One solution to this impasse is to field a ground-based sensor network to resolve the spatial scales of the geospace electrodynamics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 26, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA431367
Entities
People
- D. Rice
- F. T. Berkey
- J. J. Sojka
- J. V. Eccles
- P. Kintner
- W. Denig
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory