Superposed Epoch Analysis of High Latitude Ionospheric Joule Heating during Major Geomagnetic Storms over three Solar Cycles

Abstract

Superposed epoch analysis (SPEA) is commonly used to determine some basic structure in a collection of geophysical time series. The present study tries to analyze ionospheric Joule heating response at high latitudes, to the prevailing solar wind and IMF conditions on the basis of SPEA. Major geomagnetic storms (CME driven) over three consecutive solar cycles (SC 22, 23 and 24) have been selected. Ascending phase, solar maximum, and declining phase are investigated separately, for each solar cycle, to find out crucial controlling parameters for the generation of high-latitude ionospheric Joule heating. SPEA results show that, IMF parameters such as IMF B_y, IMF B_z, IMF clock angle and solar wind parameters such as dynamic pressure and proton density influence Joule heating production rate significantly. Meanwhile, the relentlessness of the other parameters such as IMFB_t and solar wind bulk speed show that they have poor impact on Joule heating.