STD-Update von UTC 20.15 (Hoffnung auf Rotation im IMF?)

[Wolfgang Dzieran]

aus: http://www.spacew.com/aurora/forumnotes.html

LAST UPDATE: 19 JULY 2002, 20:15 UTC (4:15 pm EDT 19 July):

20:15 UTC Update:

Solar wind conditions remain strong. However, the interplanetary magnetic
field (IMF) imbedded within the solar wind has been unfavorably oriented for
producing strong episodes of auroral storming. This may be beginning to
change. As of 20:15 UTC (4:15 pm EDT), spacecraft data is showing a slow
rotation of the IMF Bz component toward an increasingly southward
orientation. Although it's too early to determine if this rotation will
persist, if it does geomagnetic and auroral storming will increase in both
frequency and intensity in the next several hours. The potential for
widespread middle latitude observations of auroral activity exists.

Previous updates:

There's a lot of activity happening:

Shock #1 impacted the Earth near 10:10 UTC (6:10 am EDT).
Shock #2 impacted the Earth near 15:14 UTC (11:14 am EDT).

A third apparent shock (with a rather complex velocity signature) was
observed passing the ACE spacecraft at 16:12 UTC (12:12 pm EDT). This last
event has pushed the average solar wind velocity to near 800 km/sec.
Although the IMF remains pointed generally northward, the potential for
intensified auroral substorm activity has increased substantially.