Earth Planets Space, 55, 591–599, 2003 Australian magnetic field effects during geomagnetic storms

Using Australian records, we studied six isolated geomagnetic storms for the regional effects of their associated magnetic fields, emphasizing the linear regression correlation coefficient between station locations and indices. An innovation used here was to consider both the full magnetic disturbance field and a form of this field with the smoothed storm-time Dst values removed to feature the small variations. Magnetic H-component data from paired stations throughout the continent showed correlation values of +0.90 to +0.97. These results indicate the adequacy of the present density of observatories in Australia and their value for use with aeromagnetic surveys. The planetary magnetic ap index was found to have an inconsistent relationship to Australian H-component fields. The planetary magnetic Dst index was successfully represented by data from four Australian observatories. The discovered capability of Australian magnetic observatories to represent the magnetic storm Dst index in real time, combined with the established lognormal-form characteristic of Dst, means that Australian solar-terrestrial disturbance centers should be able to predict the time to recovery of quieter fields once an on-line Austrialian magnetic field Dst main-phase computation has been made. Key words: Geomagnetism, magnetic storms, Dst index. 1