Articles | Volume 7, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-297-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-297-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| Highlight paper
| 
20 Dec 2024
Research article | Highlight paper |
| 20 Dec 2024
| 20 Dec 2024
The Gannon Storm: citizen science observations during the geomagnetic superstorm of 10 May 2024
Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Emma Bruus
Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, University of Oulu, Sodankylä, Finland
Taivaanvahti/Skywarden Observation Service, Ursa Astronomical Association, Helsinki, Finland
Vincent E. Ledvina
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA
Aurorasaurus, New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM, USA
Noora Partamies
Department of Arctic Geophysics, University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway
Mathieu Barthelemy
IPAG, Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble, France
CSUG, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Carlos Martinis
Physics and Astronomy, Center for Space Physics, Astronomy Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
Rowan Dayton-Oxland
University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
Bea Gallardo-Lacourt
Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Department of Physics, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA
Yukitoshi Nishimura
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Center for Space Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
Katie Herlingshaw
Department of Arctic Geophysics, University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway
Neethal Thomas
Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, University of Oulu, Sodankylä, Finland
Eero Karvinen
Taivaanvahti/Skywarden Observation Service, Ursa Astronomical Association, Helsinki, Finland
Donna Lach
Aurorasaurus, New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM, USA
citizen scientist, Canada
Marjan Spijkers
citizen scientist, the Netherlands
Calle Bergstrand
citizen scientist, Sweden
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Yann Pfau-Kempf, Konstantinos Papadakis, Markku Alho, Markus Battarbee, Giulia Cozzani, Lauri Pänkäläinen, Urs Ganse, Fasil Kebede, Jonas Suni, Konstantinos Horaites, Maxime Grandin, and Minna Palmroth
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Flux ropes are peculiar structures of twisted magnetic field occurring in many regions of space, near Earth and other planets, at the Sun, and in astrophysical objects. We developed a new way of detecting flux ropes in large supercomputer simulations of near-Earth space, and we use it to follow the evolution of flux ropes for long distances past the Earth in the flow direction. This will be useful in future studies as these flux ropes are involved in the transport of matter and energy in space.
Rumi Nakamura, Thierry Dudok de Wit, Geraint H. Jones, Matt G. G. T. Taylor, Nicolas C. Andre, Charlotte Goetz, Lina Z. Hadid, Laura A. Hayes, Heli Hietala, Caitriona M. Jackman, Larry Kepko, Aurelie Marchaudon, Adam Masters, Mathew Owens, Noora Partamies, Stefaan Poedts, Jonathan Rae, Yuri Shprits, Manuela Temmer, Daniel Verscharen, and Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3814, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3814, 2025
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Heliophysics spans a wide range of disciplines covering the study of the Sun and the different Solar System bodies, such as Earth and other planets, moons, comets, and asteroids, and their interactions with the Sun, focusing on plasma and atmospheric processes. A grass-roots effort has been recently started toward establishing a European Heliophysics Community (https://www.heliophysics.eu/). This white paper outlines the motivation, priorities, and a future vision of Heliophysics in Europe.
Noora Partamies, Rowan Dayton-Oxland, Katie Herlingshaw, Ilkka Virtanen, Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, Mikko Syrjäsuo, Fred Sigernes, Takanori Nishiyama, Toshi Nishimura, Mathieu Barthelemy, Anasuya Aruliah, Daniel Whiter, Lena Mielke, Maxime Grandin, Eero Karvinen, Marjan Spijkers, and Vincent E. Ledvina
Ann. Geophys., 43, 349–367, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-349-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-349-2025, 2025
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Venla Koikkalainen, Maxime Grandin, Emilia Kilpua, Abiyot Workayehu, Ivan Zaitsev, Liisa Juusola, Shi Tao, Markku Alho, Lauri Pänkäläinen, Giulia Cozzani, Konstantinos Horaites, Jonas Suni, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Urs Ganse, and Minna Palmroth
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2265, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2265, 2025
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We use a numerical simulation to study phenomena that occur between the Earth’s dipolar magnetic field and the nightside of near-Earth space. We observe the formation of large-scale vortex flows with scales of several Earth radii. On the ionospheric grid of the simulation we find that the field-aligned currents formed in the simulation reflect the vortex flow in the transition region. The main finding is that the vortex flow is a result of a combination of flow dynamics and a plasma instability.
Liisa Juusola, Ilkka Virtanen, Spencer Mark Hatch, Heikki Vanhamäki, Maxime Grandin, Noora Partamies, Urs Ganse, Ilja Honkonen, Abiyot Workayehu, Antti Kero, and Minna Palmroth
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2394, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2394, 2025
Short summary
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Key properties of the ionospheric electrodynamics are electric fields, currents, and conductances. They provide a window to the vast and distant near-Earth space, cause Joule heating that affect satellite orbits, and drive geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in technological conductor networks. We have developed a new method for solving the key properties of ionospheric electrodynamics from ground-based magnetic field observations.
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Ann. Geophys., 43, 217–240, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-217-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-217-2025, 2025
Short summary
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We study the atmospheric impact of auroral electron precipitation through the novel combination of both magnetospheric modelling and atmospheric modelling. We first simulate fluxes of auroral electrons and then use these fluxes to model their atmospheric impact. We find an increase of more than 200 % in thermospheric odd nitrogen and a corresponding decrease in stratospheric ozone of around 0.8 %. The produced auroral electron precipitation is realistic and shows potential for future studies.
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Rowan Dayton-Oxland, Daniel K. Whiter, Hyomin Kim, and Betty Lanchester
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.172641540.02035523/v1, https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.172641540.02035523/v1, 2024
Preprint archived
Short summary
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It is typically thought that the protons which precipitate down from space to cause proton aurora are accelerated by a type of plasma wave called an EMIC wave. In this study we use ground-based observations of proton aurora and Pc1 waves (the ground signature of EMIC waves) to test whether this mechanism occurs in the high Arctic over Svalbard, on the Earth's day side. We did not find any link between the proton aurora and Pc1 pulsations, contrary to our expectations.
Maxime Grandin, Noora Partamies, and Ilkka I. Virtanen
Ann. Geophys., 42, 355–369, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-355-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-355-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Auroral displays typically take place at high latitudes, but the exact latitude where the auroral breakup occurs can vary. In this study, we compare the characteristics of the fluxes of precipitating electrons from space during auroral breakups occurring above Tromsø (central part of the auroral zone) and above Svalbard (poleward boundary of the auroral zone). We find that electrons responsible for the aurora above Tromsø carry more energy than those precipitating above Svalbard.
Noora Partamies, Bas Dol, Vincent Teissier, Liisa Juusola, Mikko Syrjäsuo, and Hjalmar Mulders
Ann. Geophys., 42, 103–115, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-103-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-103-2024, 2024
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Auroral imaging produces large amounts of image data that can no longer be analyzed by visual inspection. Thus, every step towards automatic analysis tools is crucial. Previously supervised learning methods have been used in auroral physics, with a human expert providing ground truth. However, this ground truth is debatable. We present an unsupervised learning method, which shows promising results in detecting auroral breakups in the all-sky image data.
Konstantinos Papadakis, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Urs Ganse, Markus Battarbee, Markku Alho, Maxime Grandin, Maxime Dubart, Lucile Turc, Hongyang Zhou, Konstantinos Horaites, Ivan Zaitsev, Giulia Cozzani, Maarja Bussov, Evgeny Gordeev, Fasil Tesema, Harriet George, Jonas Suni, Vertti Tarvus, and Minna Palmroth
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 7903–7912, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7903-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7903-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Vlasiator is a plasma simulation code that simulates the entire near-Earth space at a global scale. As 6D simulations require enormous amounts of computational resources, Vlasiator uses adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) to lighten the computational burden. However, due to Vlasiator’s grid topology, AMR simulations suffer from grid aliasing artifacts that affect the global results. In this work, we present and evaluate the performance of a mechanism for alleviating those artifacts.
Noora Partamies, Daniel Whiter, Kirsti Kauristie, and Stefano Massetti
Ann. Geophys., 40, 605–618, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-605-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-605-2022, 2022
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We investigate the local time behaviour of auroral structures and emission height. Data are collected from the Fennoscandian Lapland and Svalbard latitutes from 7 identical auroral all-sky cameras over about 1 solar cycle. The typical peak emission height of the green aurora varies from 110 km on the nightside to about 118 km in the morning over Lapland but stays systematically higher over Svalbard. During fast solar wind, nightside emission heights are 5 km lower than during slow solar wind.
Vertti Tarvus, Lucile Turc, Markus Battarbee, Jonas Suni, Xóchitl Blanco-Cano, Urs Ganse, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Markku Alho, Maxime Dubart, Maxime Grandin, Andreas Johlander, Konstantinos Papadakis, and Minna Palmroth
Ann. Geophys., 39, 911–928, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-911-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-911-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We use simulations of Earth's magnetosphere and study the formation of transient wave structures in the region where the solar wind first interacts with the magnetosphere. These transients move earthward and play a part in the solar wind–magnetosphere interaction. We show that the transients are a common feature and their properties are altered as they move earthward, including an increase in temperature, decrease in solar wind speed and an alteration in their propagation properties.
Pekka T. Verronen, Antti Kero, Noora Partamies, Monika E. Szeląg, Shin-Ichiro Oyama, Yoshizumi Miyoshi, and Esa Turunen
Ann. Geophys., 39, 883–897, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-883-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-883-2021, 2021
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This paper is the first to simulate and analyse the pulsating aurorae impact on middle atmosphere on monthly/seasonal timescales. We find that pulsating aurorae have the potential to make a considerable contribution to the total energetic particle forcing and increase the impact on upper stratospheric odd nitrogen and ozone in the polar regions. Thus, it should be considered in atmospheric and climate simulations.
Andrei Runov, Maxime Grandin, Minna Palmroth, Markus Battarbee, Urs Ganse, Heli Hietala, Sanni Hoilijoki, Emilia Kilpua, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Sergio Toledo-Redondo, Lucile Turc, and Drew Turner
Ann. Geophys., 39, 599–612, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-599-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-599-2021, 2021
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In collisionless systems like space plasma, particle velocity distributions contain fingerprints of ongoing physical processes. However, it is challenging to decode this information from observations. We used hybrid-Vlasov simulations to obtain ion velocity distribution functions at different locations and at different stages of the Earth's magnetosphere dynamics. The obtained distributions provide valuable examples that may be directly compared with observations by satellites in space.
Haimeng Li, Wen Li, Qianli Ma, Yukitoshi Nishimura, Zhigang Yuan, Alex J. Boyd, Xiaochen Shen, Rongxin Tang, and Xiaohua Deng
Ann. Geophys., 39, 461–470, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-461-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-461-2021, 2021
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We report an event where hiss wave intensity decreased, associated with the enhanced convection and a substorm. We suggest that the enhanced magnetospheric electric field causes the outward and sunward motion of energetic electrons. This leads to the decrease of energetic electron fluxes on the duskside, which provide free energy for hiss amplification. The study reveals the important role of magnetospheric electric field in the variation of the energetic electron flux and hiss wave intensity.
Minna Palmroth, Savvas Raptis, Jonas Suni, Tomas Karlsson, Lucile Turc, Andreas Johlander, Urs Ganse, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Xochitl Blanco-Cano, Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, Markus Battarbee, Maxime Dubart, Maxime Grandin, Vertti Tarvus, and Adnane Osmane
Ann. Geophys., 39, 289–308, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-289-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-289-2021, 2021
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Magnetosheath jets are high-velocity features within the Earth's turbulent magnetosheath, separating the Earth's magnetic domain from the solar wind. The characteristics of the jets are difficult to assess statistically as a function of their lifetime because normally spacecraft observe them only at one position within the magnetosheath. This study first confirms the accuracy of the model used, Vlasiator, by comparing it to MMS spacecraft, and then carries out the first jet lifetime statistics.
Joshua Dreyer, Noora Partamies, Daniel Whiter, Pål G. Ellingsen, Lisa Baddeley, and Stephan C. Buchert
Ann. Geophys., 39, 277–288, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-277-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-277-2021, 2021
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Small-scale auroral features are still being discovered and are not well understood. Where aurorae are caused by particle precipitation, the newly reported fragmented aurora-like emissions (FAEs) seem to be locally generated in the ionosphere (hence,
aurora-like). We analyse data from multiple instruments located near Longyearbyen to derive their main characteristics. They seem to occur as two types in a narrow altitude region (individually or in regularly spaced groups).
Minna Palmroth, Maxime Grandin, Theodoros Sarris, Eelco Doornbos, Stelios Tourgaidis, Anita Aikio, Stephan Buchert, Mark A. Clilverd, Iannis Dandouras, Roderick Heelis, Alex Hoffmann, Nickolay Ivchenko, Guram Kervalishvili, David J. Knudsen, Anna Kotova, Han-Li Liu, David M. Malaspina, Günther March, Aurélie Marchaudon, Octav Marghitu, Tomoko Matsuo, Wojciech J. Miloch, Therese Moretto-Jørgensen, Dimitris Mpaloukidis, Nils Olsen, Konstantinos Papadakis, Robert Pfaff, Panagiotis Pirnaris, Christian Siemes, Claudia Stolle, Jonas Suni, Jose van den IJssel, Pekka T. Verronen, Pieter Visser, and Masatoshi Yamauchi
Ann. Geophys., 39, 189–237, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-189-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-189-2021, 2021
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This is a review paper that summarises the current understanding of the lower thermosphere–ionosphere (LTI) in terms of measurements and modelling. The LTI is the transition region between space and the atmosphere and as such of tremendous importance to both the domains of space and atmosphere. The paper also serves as the background for European Space Agency Earth Explorer 10 candidate mission Daedalus.
Emma Bland, Fasil Tesema, and Noora Partamies
Ann. Geophys., 39, 135–149, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-135-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-135-2021, 2021
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A total of 10 Super Dual Auroral Radar Network radars were used to estimate the horizontal area over which energetic electrons impact the atmosphere at 70–100 km altitude during pulsating aurorae (PsAs). The impact area varies significantly from event to event. Approximately one-third extend over 12° of magnetic latitude, while others are highly localised. Our results could be used to improve the forcing used in atmospheric/climate models to properly capture the energy contribution from PsAs.
Markus Battarbee, Thiago Brito, Markku Alho, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Maxime Grandin, Urs Ganse, Konstantinos Papadakis, Andreas Johlander, Lucile Turc, Maxime Dubart, and Minna Palmroth
Ann. Geophys., 39, 85–103, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-85-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-85-2021, 2021
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We investigate local acceleration dynamics of electrons with a new numerical simulation method, which is an extension of a world-leading kinetic plasma simulation. We describe how large supercomputer simulations can be used to initialize the electron simulations and show numerical stability for the electron method. We show that features of our simulated electrons match observations from Earth's magnetic tail region.
Noora Partamies, Fasil Tesema, Emma Bland, Erkka Heino, Hilde Nesse Tyssøy, and Erlend Kallelid
Ann. Geophys., 39, 69–83, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-69-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-69-2021, 2021
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About 200 nights of substorm activity have been analysed for their magnetic disturbance magnitude and the level of cosmic radio noise absorption. We show that substorms with a single expansion phase have limited lifetimes and spatial extents. Starting from magnetically quiet conditions, the strongest absorption occurs after 1 to 2 nights of substorm activity. This prolonged activity is thus required to accelerate particles to energies, which may affect the atmospheric chemistry.
Maxime Dubart, Urs Ganse, Adnane Osmane, Andreas Johlander, Markus Battarbee, Maxime Grandin, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Lucile Turc, and Minna Palmroth
Ann. Geophys., 38, 1283–1298, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-38-1283-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-38-1283-2020, 2020
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Plasma waves are ubiquitous in the Earth's magnetosphere. They are responsible for many energetic processes happening in Earth's atmosphere, such as auroras. In order to understand these processes, thorough investigations of these waves are needed. We use a state-of-the-art numerical model to do so. Here we investigate the impact of different spatial resolutions in the model on these waves in order to improve in the future the model without wasting computational resources.
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Executive editor
This work highlights the importance of data collected through citizen science for studying extreme geomagnetic storms. The Gannon storm was an unprecedented opportunity to test the limitations of citizen science data collection and to offer solutions to enable similar studies in the future. This study has great potential to be of interest to the wider public.
This work highlights the importance of data collected through citizen science for studying...
Short summary
We carried out a citizen science study of aurora sightings and technological disruptions experienced during the extreme geomagnetic storm of 10 May 2024. We collected reports from 696 observers from over 30 countries via an online survey, supplemented with observations logged in the Skywarden database. We found that the aurora was seen from exceptionally low latitudes and had very bright red and pink hues, suggesting that high fluxes of low-energy electrons from space entered the atmosphere.
We carried out a citizen science study of aurora sightings and technological disruptions...
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