arXiv subjects

Gurbax S. Lakhina

Publications and source records attributed to Gurbax S. Lakhina.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

"Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs)", "Interaction Regions (IRs)" and "Stream Interaction Regions (SIRs)", which term should be used?

We discuss the early history of quasiperiodic ~27-day recurrent geomagnetic activity starting with Maunder (1904, 1905), Chree (1913) and Bartels (1932, 1934), and the Bartels term "M-regions". We show the iconic "interaction region (IR)" schematic of Belcher and Davis (1971) and the further development of Smith and Wolfe (1976) and the term "corotating interaction region (CIR)". We quote the Jian et al. (2006) definition of a "stream interaction region (SIR)". We disagree with Jian et al. (2006) on the use of the term (SIR) to indicate "transient and possibly localized stream interactions" with "poor recurrence" (Gosling et al., 2001). We feel that this description is too vague for use in scientific studies. We suggest, instead identifying the specific known interplanetary phenomena: interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) sheaths, ICMEs (loops, magnetic clouds, filaments), CIRs, high-speed streams (HSSs) and slow streams. All of these various interplanetary phenomena have different solar and interplanetary origins and different plasma and magnetic field properties. The different interplanetary phenomena have been shown to have different geomagnetic effectivenesses. In keeping with this theme of naming specific interplanetary phenomenon, we introduce the term "Super CIR (SCIR)", which describes a CIR associated with magnetic reconnection at the edge of a solar coronal hole with an embedded coronal jet. SCIRs are a new form of a "transient event" and can be identified by exceptionally strong internal magnetic fields and bounded by both forward and reverse shocks. The SCIR on 6-7 April 2000 caused an exceptionally strong SYM-H = -319 nT superstorm, a first detected/reported event of its kind.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2024

Review of the August 1972 and March 1989 Space Weather Events: Can We Learn Anything New From Them?

Updated summaries of the August 1972 and March 1989 space weather events have been constructed. The features of these two events are compared to the Carrington 1859 event and a few other major space weather events. It is concluded that solar active regions release energy in a variety of forms (X-rays, EUV photons, visible light, coronal mass ejection (CME) plasmas and fields) and they in turn can produce other energetic effects (solar energetic particles (SEPs), magnetic storms) in a variety of ways. It is clear that there is no strong one-to-one relationship between these various energy sinks. The energy is often distributed differently from one space weather event to the next. Concerning SEPs accelerated at interplanetary CME (ICME) shocks, it is concluded that the Fermi mechanism associated with quasi-parallel shocks is relatively weak and that the gradient drift mechanism (electric fields) at quasi-perpendicular shocks will produce harder spectra and higher fluxes. If the 4 Augusut 1972 intrinsic magnetic cloud condition (southward interplanetary magnetic field instead of northward) and the interplanetary Sun to 1 au conditions were different, a 4 August 1972 magnetic storm and magnetospheric dawn-to-dusk electric fields substantially larger than the Carrington event would have occurred. Under these special interplanetary conditions, a Miyake et al. (2012)-like extreme SEP event may have been formed. The long duration complex 1989 storm was probably greater than the Carrington storm in the sense that the total ring current particle energy was larger.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2023

NORAD Tracking of the February 2022 Starlink Satellites (and the Possible Immediate Loss of 32 Satellites)

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracking of the SpaceX Starlink satellite launch on February 03, 2022 is reviewed. Of the 49 Starlink satellites released into orbit, 38 were eventually lost. Thirty-two of the satellites were never tracked by NORAD. There have been three articles written proposing physical mechanisms to explain the satellite losses. It is argued that none of the proposed mechanisms can explain the immediate loss of 32 of the 49 satellites. The non-availability of telemetry data from the lost satellites has hindered the search for a physical mechanism to explain the density increase observed in a short time interval.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2023

Comments on "New Insights from the 2003 Halloween Storm into the Colaba 1600 nT Magnetic Depression during the 1859 Carrington Storm" by S. Ohtani (2022)

The Colaba, India ~-1600 nT magnetic spike caused by an interplanetary sheath magnetic field inducing a "dayside R1-field aligned current wedge" during the Carrington magnetic storm proposed by Ohtani (2022, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JA030596) seems highly improbable. Normal interplanetary magnetic field intensities of ~5 nT have previously been shown to be sufficient to explain the ~+120 nT SI+ observed at Colaba during the storm (Tsurutani et al., 2018, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JA024779). Magnetohydrodynamic theory (Kennel et al., 1985, https://doi.org/10.1029/GM034p0001) predicts a maximum of 4x magnetic field compression by a fast shock, giving an interplanetary sheath field of ~20 nT, a value too low to support the Ohtani (2022) hypothesis. The Ohtani (2022) (and Siscoe et al. 2006, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2005.02.102) claim of a further 10x amplification of the interplanetary sheath fields has not been verified in near-Earth interplanetary sheaths. The original (Tsurutani et al., 2003, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JA009504) hypothesis that an ICME magnetic cloud having southward magnetic fields of ~90 nT caused the Carrington magnetic storm main phase of peak SYM-H/Dst = -1760 nT seems more likely. The short time between the SI+ and the storm main phase onset implies a foreshortened interplanetary sheath. The extremely rapid recovery of the magnetic storm was hypothesized by Tsurutani et al. (2018, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JA024779) as being due to nonlinear ring current losses. We point out that the Hydro-Quebec 1989 storm was caused by multiple shock-sheaths and magnetic clouds (Lakhina & Tsurutani, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40562-016-0037-4) unlike the interplanetary causes of the Carrington storm. The Hydro-Quebec event was a "stealth" magnetic storm.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2022

Space Plasma Physics: A Review

Owing to the ever-present solar wind, our vast solar system is full of plasmas. The turbulent solar wind, together with sporadic solar eruptions, introduces various space plasma processes and phenomena in the solar atmosphere all the way to the Earth's ionosphere and atmosphere and outward to interact with the interstellar media to form the heliopause and termination shock. Remarkable progress has been made in space plasma physics in the last 65 years, mainly due to sophisticated in-situ measurements of plasmas, plasma waves, neutral particles, energetic particles, and dust via space-borne satellite instrumentation. Additionally high technology ground-based instrumentation has led to new and greater knowledge of solar and auroral features. As a result, a new branch of space physics, i.e., space weather, has emerged since many of the space physics processes have a direct or indirect influence on humankind. After briefly reviewing the major space physics discoveries before rockets and satellites, we aim to review all our updated understanding on coronal holes, solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which are central to space weather events at Earth, solar wind, storms and substorms, magnetotail and substorms, emphasizing the role of the magnetotail in substorm dynamics, radiation belts/energetic magnetospheric particles, structures and space weather dynamics in the ionosphere, plasma waves, instabilities, and wave-particle interactions, long-period geomagnetic pulsations, auroras, geomagnetically induced currents (GICs), planetary magnetospheres and solar/stellar wind interactions with comets, moons and asteroids, interplanetary discontinuities, shocks and waves, interplanetary dust, space dusty plasmas and solar energetic particles and shocks, including the heliospheric termination shock. This paper is aimed to provide a panoramic view of space physics and space weather.

physics.space-ph↗