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Comments to paper of P. Stauning “The Polar Cap (PC) Index, Invalid Index Series and a Different Approaches”
  • Oleg A. Troshichev
Oleg A. Troshichev
Arctic & Antarctic Research Institute

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

The paper examines the essence of discrepancies between the IAGA approved PC index and the approach put forward by Stauning (2020). The IAGA endorsed PC index was designed to serve as a proxy for energy that enters into the magnetosphere during solar wind-magnetosphere coupling. It means that the ground-based PC index should be indicative of the magnetosphere state in the real time. With this aim a special “running QDC derivation” procedure has been elaborated (Troshichev et al., 2006) to determine a proper quiet daily curve (QDC) as a level of reference for evaluation of magnetic disturbances generated by solar wind. The most significant evidence of validity of the IAGA endorsed PC index is the statistically justified correspondence between the PC index changes and development of disturbances in the magnetosphere (with correlation as high as R=0.94). The alternative procedure (Stauning, 2011) also used QDC as level of reference, but this QDC does not consist with the PC index designation. The announcement (Stauning, 2020) on invalid IAGA-endorsed PC index series seems be devoid of any background.