A new southern high-latitude index

P. Ballatore (1) , C. G. Maclennan (2) , M. J. Engebretson (3) , M. Candidi (1) , J. Bitterly (4) , C.-I. Meng (5) , G. Burns (6)

1 IFSI - Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario
2 Bell Laboratories
3 Department of Physics [Minneapolis]
4 IPGS - Institut de physique du globe de Strasbourg
5 APL - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory [Laurel, MD]
6 AAD - Australian Antarctic Division

We have developed and examined a new regional geomagnetic index AES-80, defined similarly to the classical auroral electrojet AE index, using data from five Antarctic stations located at corrected geomagnetic latitudes about 80 °S. Because only sparse ground-based information can be derived from auroral latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, and because no index comparable to AE can be constructed from locations in the south, the possibility of using AES-80 as a measure of high latitudes and polar cap activity is investigated. As a global average activity level indicator, it is found that in general AES-80 gives results rather similar to the classical AE index. However AES-80 provides a more robust measure of the occurrence of high-latitude geomagnetic activity.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère; Sciences de la Terre

P. Ballatore, C. G. Maclennan, M. J. Engebretson, M. Candidi, J. Bitterly, et al.. A new southern high-latitude index. Annales Geophysicae, 1998, 16 (12), pp.1589-1598. ⟨hal-00329109⟩