The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Synoptic variability of a CIR-driven open-closed boundary during solar minimum
Author:	Urban, Kevin
View Online:	njit-etd2010-108 (xiii, 74 pages ~ 8.7 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Physics
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Applied Physics
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Gerrard, Andrew (Committee chair) Lanzerotti, Louis J. (Committee member) Gary, Dale E. (Committee member)
Date:	2010-08
Keywords:	Corotating interaction region (CIR) Open-closed boundary (OCB) Magnetosphere Spectral signature
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	The year 2008 marked a historically quiet period of solar activity during the declining phase of solar cycle 23. Such quiet time has permitted researchers to clearly distinguish the spectral signature of a corotating interaction region’s (CIR) impact on the open-closed boundary (OCB) of the magnetosphere in the southern hemisphere’s auroral zone. By using the PENGUIn AGOs network of ground-based magnetometers on the Antarctic continent, the synoptic behavior of the OCB during a CIR-driven magnetic storm has been studied. Observations were compared with results provided by the BATSRUS space weather model. It is shown that such synoptic magnetometer data sets of the OCB during these storms allows for a careful test of current space weather models.