Ionospheric responses over the Antarctic region to Intense Space Weather events: Plasma Convection vs. Auroral Precipitation
Abstract
The present investigation is directed at exploring southern polar ionospheric responses to intense space weather events and their correlations with plasma convection and auroral precipitation. The main phases of six geomagnetic storms occurring in the year 2023 (ascending phase of the present solar cycle) are considered for this study. The ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) measurements derived from GPS receivers covering the Antarctic region are used for probing the electron density perturbations during these events. Auroral precipitation maps are shown to illustrate the locations of the GPS stations relative to particle precipitation. SuperDARN maps are shown to understand the effects of plasma convection over these locations. Correlation between the enhanced TEC observations with the auroral precipitation (R $\sim$ 0.31) and the plasma convection (R $\sim$ 0.88) reveals that the latter is more responsible for causing significant enhancements in the diurnal maximum values of TEC over the Antarctic region in comparison to the former. Therefore, this work shows correlation studies between two physical processes and ionospheric density enhancements over the under-explored south polar region under strong levels of geomagnetic activity during 2023.