Abstract
The complex magnetospheric and ionospheric events during September 2017
are studied. There were 4 X-class, 27 M-class and numerous C-class
flares related to ~68 coronal mass ejections (CMEs), 4
of which were halo CMEs. Of the 4 halo CMEs, only 3 reached the Earth. A
fast interplanetary-CME (ICME) created an upstream sheath that caused an
intense magnetic storm (SYM-H peak = -146 nT). This was followed by
another intense storm (SYM-H peak = -115 nT) caused by the magnetic
cloud (MC) portion of the ICME. Two moderate storms (with SYM-H peaks of
-65 nT and -74 nT) were caused by a sheath associated with another halo
CME and a corotating interaction region (CIR), respectively. The solar
wind high-speed streams (HSSs) led to continuous substorm and convection
events but no magnetic storms. Fast forward shocks (FSs) and reverse
waves (RWs) associated with the fast CMEs and CIRs, and heliospheric
current sheet/heliospheric plasma sheet encounters were detected. The
FSs and RWs caused positive and negative sudden impulses, respectively.
Half of the FSs triggered substorm onsets and the RWs caused substorm
recovery phases. While the FSs led to magnetospheric relativistic
electron decreases, electron accelerations were associated with the MC
and the HSSs. During main phases of the intense storms, two
supersubstorms (SSSs) were detected, one triggered by a FS and the other
by a non-shock ram pressure pulse. The SSSs caused major geomagnetically
induced currents. CME propagation codes were tested with errors in
arrival times ranging from ~24 min to > 35
h.