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GOLD Observations of the Merging of the Southern Crest of the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly and Aurora During the 10-11 May 2024 Mother's Day Super Geomagnetic Storm
  • +5
  • Deepak Kumar Karan,
  • Carlos Martinis,
  • Robert Edward Daniell,
  • Richard W Eastes,
  • Wenbin Wang,
  • William E. McClintock,
  • Robert G Michell,
  • Scott L England
Deepak Kumar Karan
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Carlos Martinis
Boston University
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Robert Edward Daniell
Ionospheric Physics Consulting
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Richard W Eastes
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
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Wenbin Wang
HAO/NCAR
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William E. McClintock
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
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Robert G Michell
NASA GSFC
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Scott L England
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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Abstract

Using NASA’s Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) imager, we report nightside ionospheric changes during the G5 super geomagnetic storm of 10-11 May 2024. Specifically, the nightside southern crest of the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA) was observed to merge with the aurora near the southern tip of South America. During the storm, the EIA southern crest was seen moving poleward as fast as 450 m/s. Furthermore, the aurora extended to mid-latitudes reaching the southern tips of Africa and South America. The poleward shift of the equatorial ionospheric structure and equatorward motion of the aurora means there was no mid-latitude ionosphere in this region. These observations offer unique insights into the ionospheric response to extreme geomagnetic disturbances, highlighting the complex interplay between solar activity and Earth’s upper atmosphere.
07 Jun 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
10 Jun 2024Published in ESS Open Archive