Earth’s Magnetic Field and Geo-space

Archana Bhattacharyya

Introduction
Earth’s magnetic field plays a central role in the interaction of geo-space with the Sun. This
interaction creates space weather, which relates to changes in Earth’s ionosphere and
magnetosphere that can be detrimental to technological systems on which human society is
critically dependent today. Therefore, it is important to study all aspects of the geomagnetic
field: its sources, how it varies with space and time, and its interaction with the solar wind,
which is the stream of charged particles which comes from the Sun. Earth’s magnetic field
plays a critical role in the electrodynamics of the ionized part of Earth’s upper atmosphere –
the ionosphere, and of the plasma in Earth’s magnetosphere - a cavity created by Earth’s
magnetic field in interplanetary space, where the geomagnetic field dominates.

1. Measurement of Earth’s magnetic field

In the history of Geomagnetism, it was realized in the 12th century that a magnetic compass
pointed in a different direction from the geographic North, and in 18th century that the Earth’s
magnetic field varied from one location to another, and also with time. Thus a few geomagnetic
observatories started functioning around the world in the 19th Century, including the Colaba
observatory in Bombay, which functioned from 1841 to 1906. A new observatory started
functioning at Alibag, around 40 km from Colaba, in 1904, as the magnetic field measurements
made at Colaba were disturbed by the electric tram cars, which had started operating in
Bombay. The Alibag magnetic observatory is still running, and the long series of geomagnetic
observations made at Colaba and Alibag observatories is globally acclaimed. Today, the
geomagnetic field is measured at a large number of ground-based magnetic observatories
distributed around the globe; and by instruments on board satellites, which provide more
uniform spatial coverage with measurements over the oceans and regions of the globe where
there are few magnetic observatories. It is necessary to measure three components of the
Earth’s magnetic field in order to determine its direction and intensity. A disadvantage of
satellite measurements is that continuous measurements at one location are not available from
satellite data. Therefore, it is necessary to have ground-based magnetic observatories.
Currently, India has a network of magnetic observatories, 12 of which are maintained by the
Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG). In these magnetic observatories, the horizontal
component H of the geomagnetic field, the vertical component Z, and the declination D, which
is the angle by which the horizontal component deviates from the geographic North, are
measured. In magnetic observatories, two categories of instruments are used to measure the
geomagnetic field. One kind makes a measurement of the absolute value of the geomagnetic
field at an instant of time, while the other category of instruments records continuously, the
relative variations in a component of the geomagnetic field. A proton precession magnetometer
(PPM) or an Overhauser magnetometer is used for the absolute measurement. These
magnetometers make use of the intrinsic quantum properties of spin and magnetic moment that
protons and electrons have. In a PPM, the sample consists of a bottle of a hydrogen-rich liquid
such as kerosene. An auxiliary DC polarization field of ~ 107 nT, perpendicular to the ambient
magnetic field, is produced by sending a current through the sensor coil, to align the proton
magnetic moments. Once the polarization field is removed, the net magnetization vector
precesses around the ambient geomagnetic field with a frequency: ω0 = γP B, where γP =
gyromagnetic constant, and B = strength of ambient magnetic field. The precession produces
a signal of this frequency in the sensor coil. The signal is amplified and zero-crossings
identified to determine the frequency and hence B, since the gyromagnetic constant is known.
In India, IIG has been making PPMs for several decades, and is now making an Overhauser
magnetometer, in which free radicals are added to the sample so that free electrons with
unpaired spins are present. A radiofrequency field is applied to excite the electrons, so that the
energy from large electron moments may be transferred to the protons in the sample. In this
way, protons can be polarized more efficiently than by using a DC magnetic field as in the
PPM. In a fluxgate magnetometer, a ring core of an alloy with high magnetic permeability is
used and a wire is wound around it so that a current through this wire produces a magnetic field
in one half of the core that has a component in the direction of the external field, Hext, to be
measured, while in the other half, the field generated is opposite to Hext .If Hext= 0, the two
halves of the core go into and come out of saturation at the same time, so that the magnetic
fields produced in the centre of the ring always cancel each other. There is no change in net
magnetic flux through the sense winding. For a non-zero Hext, the half core generating field
opposite to Hext comes out of saturation earlier than the other half core, so that two fields do
not always cancel each other. This produces a change in the magnetic flux through the sense
winding, and a voltage is induced in the winding. This is measured to determine Hext.

2. Modelling the measured geomagnetic field

The three components of the geomagnetic field observed at Indian magnetic observatories have
provided valuable information on the variation of the geomagnetic field in dip equatorial and
low latitude stations, on different time scales, on magnetically quiet days, when there are no
variations caused by geomagnetic storms and sub-storms, as well on magnetically disturbed
days. The dip angle or inclination, I, refers to the angle that the geomagnetic field makes with
the horizontal surface – the surface of the Earth, at a particular location. The dip equator is the
locus of all points on the surface of the Earth, where I = 0, and the geomagnetic field is parallel
to the surface of the Earth. One of IIG’s magnetic observatories, at Tirunelveli, is located very
close to the dip equator. Its geomagnetic latitude is 0.08oN. The daily variation ΔH of the H -
component of the geomagnetic field, from its midnight value, on a magnetically quiet day, in
the Indian longitude sector shows a maximum around local noon. This is largest at the dip
equator and decreases with increasing geomagnetic latitude. Considering observations made
at some observatories of the former Soviet Union, which are in the same longitude sector, it is
seen that ΔH reverses its sign beyond some latitude. These variations are due to currents
flowing in the Earth’s ionosphere. In the dip equatorial, low-, and mid-latitudes, the quiet time
ionospheric currents mainly consist of the Sq current system and the equatorial electrojet. The
Sq current system consists of concentric loops of current, flowing around a focal point, the Sq
focus, beyond which the current flowing at noon time reverses from eastward to westward, thus
reversing the sign of ΔH. The equatorial electrojet is a narrow band of intense eastward current
which flows in the ionosphere over the dip equator, giving rise to enhanced values of ΔH at a
dip equatorial station. On another time scale, plots of annual means of D, H, and Z components
of the geomagnetic field during the years 1848 – 2009, measured at Colaba at earlier times
until 1904, and at Alibag after that, show the secular variation of the geomagnetic field. Annual
mean vector geomagnetic field, which is measured at a magnetic observatory has contributions
from various sources (the bold letters denote vectors):

B = Bm + <ΔBq + ΔBD + ΔBI> (1)

where, Bm = main geomagnetic field generated by the geodynamo operating in Earth’s liquid
outer core plus contributions from the Earth’s crust, ΔBq = magnetic field produced by quiet
time ionospheric currents, ΔBD = disturbance field, and ΔBI = current induced within the
electrically conducting Earth by temporally varying external currents. So the question is: how
do we estimate the contributions from these different sources? In order to do so, it is necessary
to introduced a Physics-based mathematical model to describe the observations.

We know from Maxwell’s equations that in a region with no currents, B can be expressed as
the gradient of a scalar potential V, which satisfies Laplace’s equation because B has zero
divergence. A solution of Laplace’s equation in geographic Earth-centred Earth-fixed
spherical coordinate system, in terms of spherical harmonic expansion is used to model the
scalar potential V (colatitude is 90o - geographic latitude).

The Gauss coefficients gnm and hnm are for magnetic fields with sources within the Earth such
as the geodynamo and in Earth’s crust, as the terms associated with these coefficients decrease
as the distance r of the observation point from the center of the Earth increases. The Gauss
coefficients qnm and snm are for magnetic fields with sources outside the Earth such as
ionospheric and magnetospheric currents. The associated Legendre functions Pnm(cos θ)
determine the latitudinal structure of different contributions to the geomagnetic field. The
Gauss coefficients are estimated by fitting the model magnetic fields to measured magnetic
fields obtained from satellite-based instruments as well as ground-based geomagnetic
observatories. In order to identify small-scale features, it is necessary to include high values of
n in the model. It is found that more than 90% of the geomagnetic field measured on the surface
of the Earth is generated within the Earth, in the liquid outer core. Ionospheric current systems
are often localized, such that determination of the external contribution to a geomagnetic field
model may have large errors.

In order to focus on the field of internal origin, the Gauss coefficients gnm and hnm are estimated
using nighttime measurements of the geomagnetic field during magnetically quiet periods.
These coefficients change with time. The n = 1 terms represent the magnetic field produced by
a dipole located at the center of the Earth, with its axis tilted with respect to the rotation axis
of the Earth. This is the largest contribution to the geomagnetic field from sources within the
Earth. The calculated geomagnetic field spectrum at the surface of the Earth as a function of n
shows a flattening of the spectrum beyond n =13. Contributions to the model magnetic field
from terms with n > 13 are attributed to magnetized material in Earth’s crust, which give rise
to the so-called magnetic anomalies. Studies of these magnetic anomalies are important for
geophysical exploration for minerals. An International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF)
is adopted every five years, based on global magnetic field data form satellites and
observatories, and it gives the values of gnm and hnm up to a maximum value of n =13, and their
rate of change with time, which contributes to secular variation of the geomagnetic field, and
estimates of secular acceleration as well. It is found that the dipole moment of the tilted,
centered dipole has been decreasing since the earliest available geomagnetic field model in
1830s. Also, the positions of the geomagnetic poles where the axis of the tilted, centered dipole
intersects the Earth’s surface have been changing. Global plots of iso-contours of the
inclination I and intensity F of the geomagnetic field at the surface of the Earth show interesting
features. The dip equator, where I = 0, is distinct from the geographic equator. It is located at
different distances from the geographic equator at different longitudes, and also makes different
angles with the geographic equator. In Indian longitudes, the dip equator passes through the
Southern tip of India at present, and it is nearly parallel to the geographic equator. The dip
equator changes its location with time. Strength of the main geomagnetic field is lowest in the
South Atlantic region, where it is also changing more rapidly than in other regions. All this
happens due to a geodynamo operating in the electrically conducting liquid outer core that
exists 2900 km below Earth’s surface.

3. Geodynamo
Information about the interior of the Earth is obtained by studying the propagation of two types
of seismic waves within the Earth. The P waves are longitudinal: elements of the medium in
which these waves propagate, move back and forth in the direction of propagation of the wave,
so that there is compression and rarefaction of the medium. The S waves are transverse in that
elements of the medium move in a direction transverse to the direction of propagation of the
wave. As liquids do not have a restoring force to bring them back to their original shape when
deformed, S waves cannot travel through the liquid outer core. This creates a S-wave shadow
zone when an earthquake occurs. The P waves also travel more slowly in the liquid outer core
than in the overlying mantle or in the solid inner core. Hence these boundaries can also be
determined. At the large pressures (> 360 GPa) that exist in the inner core, melting point of
iron (with small amount of nickel) is above the temperature that prevails in the inner core,
resulting in a solid inner core of radius 1220 km at present. A ‘dynamo’ operates in the liquid
outer of the Earth, where electric currents are generated when the electrically conducting
molten iron flows across a magnetic field, and these currents in turn produce a magnetic field.
Earth’s magnetic field also reverses on larger time scales. The last reversal happened around
780,000 years ago. Information about past reversals is contained in the stripes of alternating
polarity, which develop progressively in the ocean floor with successive stages of new sea floor
forming at a mid-ocean ridge. Mantle rock rising up as magma in the gap between adjacent
tectonic plates that pull apart at mid-ocean ridges. cools and is magnetized by the prevalent
geomagnetic field. As it hardens, it attaches to the shifting plates and more magma moves up,
thus forming ‘conveyer belts’ on either side of a mid-ocean ridge. Measurement of the magnetic
field in this region shows how Earth’s magnetic field has reversed many times in the past.
Computer simulations of the geodynamo show that the non-linear equations governing the
geodynamo allow the reversal of the field, the reversal process itself taking about a thousand
years to complete (Glatzmaier and Olson, Scientific American, 2005). During the reversal, the
dipole component of Earth’s magnetic field becomes very weak and the geomagnetic field is
multipolar and very complex.

4. Earth’s Ionosphere

Ionosphere is the region of Earth’s upper atmosphere in which free electrons exist in sufficient
numbers to affect the propagation of radio waves. It begins at an altitude of about 60 km and
extends up to about 1000 km, and is produced by X-rays and extreme UV radiation from the
Sun. The reverse process of recombination leads to a decrease in the number of ions and
electrons after sunset. During daytime, intensity of electromagnetic radiation from the Sun
decreases as it propagates downwards through Earth’s atmosphere where it interacts with the
atoms and molecules in its path. At the same time, density of neutral atoms and molecules
which encounter the radiation decreases upwards. Thus, ionization is expected to maximize at
a certain height. Earth’s neutral atmosphere is in hydrostatic equilibrium with upward force
due to a pressure gradient being balanced by gravity. Below about 110km, the atmosphere is
mixed. Above this altitude, the density of atoms and molecules decrease exponentially at a rate
determined by their respective scale height H = kBT/ Mg, where kB is the Boltzmann constant,
T is the temperature, g is the acceleration due to gravity, and M is the mass of the neutral atom
or molecule. Thus, the heavy molecular species dominate at lower altitudes and the atomic ones
at higher altitudes. Composition of the thermosphere, which is the neutral atmosphere between
altitudes of about 100 km to between 600 and 1000 km, varies with space and time. The
presence of molecular species such as N2, O2, NO at lower heights and atomic species such as
O at heights above 140 km, and the spectra of X-rays and UV radiation, which ionize the upper
atmosphere, result in the formation of different layers in the ionosphere during daytime: D, E,
F1 and F2. After sunset, the molecular ions tend to recombine much faster than the atomic ions.
The D layer disappears, and The E region remains at night but with significantly reduced
electron density. In the F region, two distinct layers F1 and F2 exist during daytime. The F
layer is the most dense layer and highly variable, and the dominant ion there is atomic oxygen.

The upper atmosphere is only partially ionized by electromagnetic radiation from the Sun.
Number density of neutral particles is much greater than that of charged particles at ionospheric
heights. Collisions with neutrals play an important role in the dynamics of ionospheric plasma,
and compete with Earth’s magnetic field in controlling the movement of ions and electrons.
The electrons being much lighter than ions, have a much higher gyrofrequency (ωBe = eB/ me,
me = mass of an electron) than ions. At E region heights, where collisions with neutral particles
is much higher than in the F region, electron gyrofrequency is still greater than electron -neutral
collision frequency, so electron motion is controlled by the geomagnetic field, but for ions,
collisions with neutrals is more important. Tides in the atmosphere produced by solar heating
and gravitational pull of the moon, give rise to an electric field, which causes currents to flow
in the E-region of the ionosphere, where the electrical conductivity is high during daytime.
These currents cause daily variations in the geomagnetic field. In the dip equatorial and low
latitude ionosphere, these currents are the Sq and equatorial electrojet currents. In the equatorial
F region, where collisions with neutrals is less, if an eastward electric field E is present, both
electrons and ions drift in a direction perpendicular to E and the geomagnetic field B, which at
the dip equator is horizontal, with a velocity given by E X B / B2. As the plasma, consisting of
both electrons and ions, moves upwards, it is acted on by the forces due to pressure gradients,
gravity, and any neutral wind that may be present. The plasma moves down the magnetic field
lines in both the hemispheres away from the dip equator, forming two regions of anomalously
high plasma density, in the ionosphere, on either side of the dip equator at about ± 15 o
geomagnetic latitude. These are called the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) and play an
important role as far as ionospheric effects on the operation of Global Navigation Satellite
Systems (GNSS) are concerned. This is one example of how the main geomagnetic field
influences the distribution of plasma in the ionosphere. The EIA regions need not be symmetric
about the dip equator because both the geomagnetic field and neutral wind are not symmetric.

The vertical distribution of ionospheric plasma over a particular location is often studied using
an ionosonde, where a radio signal of frequency ω is transmitted upwards, and the signal
reflected from the ionosphere is recorded. The virtual height of the reflection point is
determined using the time taken by the signal to return, and assuming that the radio signal has
travelled with the speed of light, c, throughout. However, in the ionosphere, because of the

presence of free electrons, refractive index for the radio signal is μ = √(1 − 𝜔𝑃2 /𝜔 2 ), where
ωP is the plasma frequency = 𝑁𝑒 2 ⁄𝜖0 𝑚; N = electron density, e, m = charge, mass of an
electron; and 𝜖0 = permittivity of free space . Group velocity of the high frequency radio
pulses in the ionosphere = μ c. The frequency of the radio signal sweeps through a range, often
extending from less than 1 MHz to 25 MHz. For frequencies approaching the level of maximum
plasma frequency in a layer, the virtual height tends to infinity because the group velocity of
the radio pulses approaches zero at these frequencies, so it takes an increasingly longer time
for the signal to return. These are known as the critical frequencies for the different layers: foE,
foF1, foF2. Electron densities for the regions from where the signal is reflected can be
determined from the corresponding plasma frequencies. The real heights of reflection are
determined by considering the integral equation that describes the propagation with the actual
group velocity, which varies with height.

The GNSS have provided a means to study the global distribution of vertical total electron
content as a function of latitude and longitude, at different Universal Times (Indian standard
time IST = UT + 5.5 hours). The GNSS include GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and Bei Dou. They
transmit radio signal frequencies typically in the range 1.1 – 1.6 GHz (L band). India has its
own Indian Regional Navigation Satellite Systems IRNSS (NAVIC), consisting of 3 satellites
in geostationary orbit and 4 satellites in geosynchronous orbits with inclination of 29o. Earth’s
ionosphere is the source of largest errors in positioning. Frequency of L band signals is much
higher than the maximum ionospheric plasma frequency, so the signals transmitted from the
satellite reach a ground receiver after propagation through the ionosphere. At these frequencies,
ionospheric refractive index μ = 1 – 40.3 N/f2, N = electron density, f = signal frequency (=
ω/2π). Since the group velocity of the signal is less than c, the signal is delayed. Thus, the
contribution of ionosphere to pseudo-range is ΔR(f) = 40.3 NT / f 2, where NT = total electron
content along the signal path. Pseudo-range is the distance between the transmitter and receiver
calculated from the time difference between transmission time and time of receiving of the
signal, and assuming the signal travels with the speed of light, c. Using two signals of different
frequencies transmitted from a satellite, e.g. GPS L1: 1.5754 GHz and L2: 1.2276 GHz
signals, NT can be determined: NT = 9.52 (RL1 – RL2) x 1016 electrons / m2, where RL1 and RL2
are the pseudo ranges for the L1 and L2 signals. This slant TEC is then converted to vertical
TEC at a location based on some assumptions. The global vertical TEC maps show important
features of the equatorial and low latitude ionosphere such as the EIAs.

A major problem encountered in the operation of such satellite-based navigation systems is that
the ionosphere is not always smooth. The post-sunset equatorial ionosphere provides the
required condition for the Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) instability to grow on the bottom-side of the
dip equatorial F region, because there is a sharp upward gradient in plasma density, creating a
basically unstable situation with a heavier fluid resting over a lighter one. A perturbation on the
bottom-side grows into an upward moving bubble of depleted plasma density, called an
equatorial plasma bubble (EPB). As the EPB moves upward, it develops smaller scale
structures or irregularities. The whole magnetic flux tube with lighter plasma tries to move
upwards, resulting in an interchange with a flux tube with higher density plasma. Therefore, an
EPB is highly stretched along the geomagnetic field lines, its lowest ends reaching E region
heights at higher magnetic latitudes, depending on how high the EPB rises above the dip
equator. Thus, EPB occurrence is a post-sunset phenomenon, because during daytime, the
electrically conducting E layers at the base of the magnetic field lines do not allow the
interchange of flux tubes. In the presence of these irregularities, night-time ionograms from a
dip equatorial or low-latitude station, show a spread of the echoes over a range of virtual heights
(Range spread F) or a spread in frequencies around the critical frequency (frequency spread).
The growth of EPBs depends on the highly variable ambient conditions and therefore their
occurrence and structure of irregularities that develop within them are unpredictable.
Irregularities of scale sizes in the range of a few km down to a few hundred km, scatter radio
signals of frequencies greater than 40 MHz, essentially in the forward direction. Scattering of
a GNSS radio signal by ionospheric irregularities creates a spatial pattern of intensity variations
in the plane of the receiver. As the irregularities move across the radio signal, a receiver on the
ground records a fluctuating signal. These fluctuations are called scintillations. Intensity and
phase scintillations on a 1.6 GHz GPS signal are caused by irregularities of scale sizes around
300 - 400m. Deep fades in signal intensity can give rise to loss of signal, while rapid changes
in phase can cause loss of signal lock. Therefore, scientists all over the world including India,
are involved in studying various aspects of EPBs using a variety of ground-based instruments
as well as instruments on board rockets and satellites, EPBs also contain meter scale
irregularities, which may be observed using ground-based radars. The Mesosphere,
Stratosphere, Troposphere (MST) radar at Gadanki (13.5o N, 79.2o E, magnetic lat. 6.3o N)
operates at a frequency of 53 MHz. A radio signal of this frequency transmitted upwards from
the ground, is coherently back scattered by 2.8m irregularities that develop within an EPB.
Observations made with this radar have been used extensively to study the day-to-day
variability of the EPBs.

5. The Sun-Earth connected system

Solar EUV and X-rays partially ionize Earth’s upper atmosphere to create the ionosphere (at
high latitudes particle precipitation also contributes). In addition to that, there is a stream of
charged particles from the Sun, called the solar wind, which impinges on the Earth’s magnetic
field. The solar wind is created by the ever-expanding outermost atmosphere of the Sun. There
is a dynamo operating within the Sun which gives rise to its magnetic activity. The creation of
sunspots, visible through a telescope, is a manifestation of this magnetic activity. Sunspots are
dark regions that appear on the Sun’s photosphere due to up-welling of intense magnetic flux
from the convection zone in the interior of the Sun. They appear dark as these regions are about
1700o K cooler than the surrounding regions of the photosphere. Active regions of strong
magnetic fields associated with sunspot groups, are also the locations of solar flares when rapid
changes in magnetic field configurations occur. Reconfiguration of the magnetic field lines in
the outer atmosphere of the Sun, the corona, is also involved in coronal mass ejections (CMEs),
when billions of tons of plasma, carrying with it, the solar magnetic field, is expelled from the
corona. Solar flares and Earth-directed CMEs (under suitable conditions) can cause significant
changes in near-Earth space.

6. Earth’s magnetosphere

Earth’s magnetic field creates a cavity in interplanetary space: the magnetosphere, where the
movement of charged particles is largely governed by the geomagnetic field. This protects us
from energetic particles from the Sun and other sources such as galactic cosmic rays which
come from supernova explosions, as these charged particles are deflected by the geomagnetic
field. Flow of the solar wind is interrupted by the magnetosphere, which results in a shock
wave, and a magneto-sheath in a region between the bow shock and the magnetopause. The
resulting flow of the solar wind impinging on the dayside magnetosphere and flowing past the
magnetospheric cavity, distorts the geomagnetic field so that on the dayside, the geomagnetic
field is compressed and the outer boundary of the magnetosphere is generally at around 6 to10
RE (RE = average radius of the Earth, 6371 km), while on the night side the geomagnetic field
lines are stretched out to hundreds of Earth radii, forming the magnetotail, which stretches well
beyond the Moon’s orbit at 60 RE. Interaction of the solar wind with Earth’s magnetosphere
depends critically on the orientation of the heliospheric magnetic field carried with the solar
wind palsma, which is referred to as the inter-planetary magnetic field (IMF). An IMF with a
southward component reconnects with the northward geomagnetic field on the dayside,
changing the configuration of some geomagnetic field lines, which become ‘open’ in the sense
that only one foot of the field line intersects the Earth. On the nightside, the field lines
reconnect, pushing the plasma back towards the Earth, and the charged particles are trapped by
the geomagnetic field. The trapped particles gyrate around the geomagnetic field lines, have a
periodic bouncing motion along the field lines, and an azimuthal drift due to the gradient in the
magnetic field, which becomes stronger as they move closer to Earth. The ions drift westward
and electrons drift eastward, giving rise to a westward ‘ring current’ in the magnetic equatorial
plane in the magnetosphere, which produces a southward magnetic field on the surface of the
Earth at equatorial and low latitude locations. The ring current is generated by the azimuthal
drift of charged particles of energy ~ 10 to 200 keV, trapped on magnetic field lines between r
~ 2RE and r ~ 7RE. During geomagnetic storms, ring current energetic particle populations are
increased with peak fluxes occurring at r </~ 4RE. Thus, a southward IMF results in an
intensification of the ring current, which is a signature of a ‘geomagnetic storm’.

There are several current systems in the magnetosphere which support the distortions in the
geomagnetic field due to its interaction with the solar wind. There is the magnetopause current
on the dayside, which increases the magnetic field strength inside the magnetopause, while
removing the Earth’s magnetic field from the magnetosheath. There is a dawn to dusk cross-
tail current flowing between oppositely directed, parallel magnetic field lines in the magnetotail
region, which close via tail boundary currents. Field aligned currents (FACs) flow into and out
of the auroral ionosphere. Enhanced auroral ionospheric currents heat up the neutral
atmosphere, altering the neutral winds and setting up a ‘disturbance dynamo’.

The Van Allen radiation belts are two regions in the magnetosphere where energetic (MeV)
charged particles are trapped by the Earth’s magnetic field: primarily protons at low altitudes
and electrons at high altitudes. The inner radiation belt is largely made up of protons which
come from the interaction of galactic cosmic rays with Earth’s atmosphere. The outer belt is
largely made up of electrons of solar wind origin, which enter the magnetosphere via the
magnetotail. When they are accelerated locally as a result of geomagnetic storms, and escape
into Earth’s auroral atmosphere, they produce the aurora. The outer belt exists typically at
about' 13500 km to 58000 km above Earth’ surface. The inner radiation belt is quasi-static.
Geomagnetic storms produce an increase in trapped relativistic electron flux in the outer belt.
The outer radiation belt extends from approximately 3RE to 6.5RE, and comprises electrons
with energies varying from about 100 keV to 10MeV. Electronic devices on satellites in
medium Earth orbits or geostationary orbits can be damaged by energetic particles in the Van
Allen radiation belts.
 7. Short term changes in the ionosphere

In addition to solar cycle, seasonal, and daily variations in the ionosphere, there are short term
changes in the ionosphere due to variations in the thermospheric winds caused by upward
propagating gravity waves generated in the lower atmosphere, and by geomagnetic storms. The
major magnetic storms are produced by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Sun, and may
cause electric fields to be altered in the equatorial ionosphere as well. Normally,
magnetospheric electric fields do not penetrate into the equatorial ionosphere, because
geomagnetic field lines there are closed. However a sudden turning of the IMF from southward
to northward, or northward to southward, causes a temporary imbalance in field-aligned
currents flowing into different regions of the high latitude ionosphere, causing a prompt
penetration of magnetospheric electric fields into the equatorial ionosphere. Also, as mentioned
earlier, enhanced auroral currents during magnetic storms can give rise to disturbance dynamo
electric fields in the equatorial ionosphere. The N-S component of the interplanetary magnetic
field is measured by a satellite, located approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth on
Earth-Sun line, at the L1 Lagrangian point, where the centripetal force and the gravitational
pulls of the Earth and Sun balance. ISRO is going to launch a satellite, Aditya, in the near
future, which will make such observations of the solar wind. Indices of magnetic activity
calculated from measurements made at geomagnetic observatories, are used to track the
intensity of geomagnetic storms. There may be changes in large scale ionospheric plasma
distribution due to a magnetic storm, which may show up as an increase or decrease of the
vertical total electron content (VTEC) estimated over a location using GPS signals. Height of
the base of the post-sunset F-layer over the dip equatorial station Tirunelveli, estimated using
ionosonde observations, sometimes shows a large increase due to a magnetic storm. This results
in growth of EPBs and associated ionospheric irregularities, which cause wide-spread L-band
scintillations, particularly in the equatorial ionization anomaly region. S4-index is a measure of
the strength of scintillations in signal intensity. It is the standard deviation of fluctuations in
normalized signal intensity, and is used to study the spatial and temporal variation of L band
scintillations.

8. An extreme geomagnetic storm event

The super storm of 1859, which followed the white-light solar flare observed by Carrington on
September 1, 1859, was recorded at the Colaba magnetic observatory. It is the most intense
magnetic storm that has ever been recorded. It was daytime in Bombay, so no auroras were
observed here, but in the western part of the globe, where it was night time, auroras associated
with the storm were sighted even in Panama! (Odenwald and Green, Scientific American 2008).
Society did not have the technological systems then that we have today. If a super storm like
the 1859 one, were to occur today, there would be severe disruption of many technological
systems that we depend on today, including damage to transformers in power stations due to
currents induced in the ground, damage to satellite systems, and widespread disruption of
satellite-based communication and navigation.