8–12 Jun 2026
Europe/Mariehamn timezone

Role of Pc5 pulsations and KH instability in the Sun-Earth coupling during extreme geomagnetic storms

12 Jun 2026, 09:40
12m
Åland Maritime Museum

Åland Maritime Museum

HAMNGATAN 2

Speaker

Prof. Eija Tanskanen (FI)

Description

The energy from the Sun emitted in a large variety of frequencies is powering the polar areas, but the energy is not distributed evenly over the latitudes. We found out that over 40% of the available energy dissipates to the 2° wide band around 67° CGM when the area between 56-76° CGM is considered. During winter months the largest amount of energy dissipates to a narrower latitudinal range than in summer. Magnetic fluctuations are the most frequent about 5° more north, compared to the most energetic substorm impact area. These substorm-like magnetic features at Bear Island do not appear to distribute significant amounts of energy. Substorms in the southern Finland are relatively infrequent and furthermore bring as well quite small amounts of solar wind originated energy. However, the substorms reaching these latitudes are intense and long, resulting in relatively energetic substorm intervals.
According to our study, the energy starts to leak through the magnetopause during extreme solar storms while during the typical Sun-Earth coupling conditions much of the energy circulate through the magnetotail. We study the role of Pc5 pulsations and Kelvin-Helmholz instability in the leakage process during space hazards and compare storms originated from complex and simple solar active regions. The 19th January 2026 event is shown as an example of geomagnetic storms with the very rapid start of the storm, measured by the equatorial magnetometers. The characteristics of this “Carrigton-type of event start” is compared with the other known extreme geomagnetic storms.

Author

Prof. Eija Tanskanen (FI)

Co-authors

Dr Iina Jaakonaho (Aalto U., FI) Dr Katariina Nykyri (Embry-Riddle aeronautical University, US) Lauri Holappa (Oulu U., FI) Dr Reko Hynönen (Oulu U., FI) Dr Shabnam Nikbakhsh (Aalto U., FI)

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