The Extreme Space Weather Event in 1941 February/March

Given the infrequency of extreme geomagnetic storms, it is significant to note the concentration of three extreme geomagnetic storms in 1941, whose intensities ranked fourth, twelfth, and fifth within the aa index between 1868–2010. Among them, the geomagnetic storm on 1941 March 1 was so intense th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2021-02, Vol.908 (2), p.209
Main Authors: Hayakawa, Hisashi, Blake, Sean P., Bhaskar, Ankush, Hattori, Kentaro, Oliveira, Denny M., Ebihara, Yusuke
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Auroral oval
Auroras
Coronal mass ejection
DST Index
Eruptions
Extreme weather
Geomagnetic storms
Geomagnetism
Latitude
Magnetic storms
Space weather
Storms
Weather
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Given the infrequency of extreme geomagnetic storms, it is significant to note the concentration of three extreme geomagnetic storms in 1941, whose intensities ranked fourth, twelfth, and fifth within the aa index between 1868–2010. Among them, the geomagnetic storm on 1941 March 1 was so intense that three of the four Dst station magnetograms went off scale. Herein, we reconstruct its time series and measure the storm intensity with an alternative Dst estimate (Dst*). The source solar eruption at 09:29–09:38 GMT on February 28 was located at RGO AR 13814 and its significant intensity is confirmed by large magnetic crochets of ∣35∣ nT measured at Abinger. This solar eruption most likely released a fast interplanetary coronal mass ejection with estimated speed 2260 km s −1 . After its impact at 03:57–03:59 GMT on March 1, an extreme magnetic storm was recorded worldwide. Comparative analyses on the contemporary magnetograms show the storm peak intensity of minimum Dst* ≤ −464 nT at 16 GMT, comparable to the most and the second most extreme magnetic storms within the standard Dst index since 1957. This storm triggered significant low-latitude aurorae in the East Asian sector and their equatorward boundary has been reconstructed as 38.°5 in invariant latitude. This result agrees with British magnetograms, which indicate an auroral oval moving above Abinger at 53.°0 in magnetic latitude. The storm amplitude was even more enhanced in equatorial stations and consequently casts caveats on their usage for measurements of the storm intensity in Dst estimates.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/abb772