TITLE:
Electrodynamics of the Earth’s Magnetosphere at High Latitudes: Geomagnetic Storm Case’s of June 22/23, 2015
AUTHORS:
Inza Gnanou, Salfo Kabore, Abidina Diabate, Christian Zoundi, Doua Alain Gnabahou, Frédéric Ouattara
KEYWORDS:
Superstorms, Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections, Magnetosphere, Geomagnetic Field, Solar Wind
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.15 No.12,
December
9,
2025
ABSTRACT: Geomagnetic storms are generally the main source of interplanetary and geomagnetic disturbances, constituting a major natural hazard due to their potential to damage technological and electrical systems, on which our society is heavily dependent. On June 22 and 23, 2015, our magnetic shield was impacted by the second strongest storm during the solar maximum of solar cycle 24, propelling a series of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICME_1 and ICME_2) towards Earth. Based on observational data derived from ground-based magnetometers (BOX and DRV) and spacecraft (WIND, ACE, SDO, and SOHO), we are investigating the high-latitude dynamics of the Earth’s magnetospheric cavity as it was impacted by this series of extreme events. Our results show that the events of June 22-23, 2015, associated with violent storms with strong and prolonged main phases, radically altered the behavior of the inner magnetosphere. While ICME_1 was characterized by fairly calm weather upstream, ICME_2 produced strong storm effects at high latitudes. In addition, analysis of data collected at one-minute intervals highlights that the dynamics of magnetospheric plasma correlate with solar wind intensity depending on the period and phase of the storm. In general, while it appears that the East/West directions of the EM field are associated with the orientation of the IMF-Bz, EM field variability becomes more pronounced and direct in polar regions when solar winds interact with the geomagnetic field. During the main storm phase, EM field intensifies in the dawn-dusk sector of the Earth’s magnetosphere for a south-facing IMF-Bz, while a north-facing IMF-Bz orientation is associated with a weakening of EM field in the dusk-dawn sector of the magnetospheric cavity during the storm recovery phase. The results presented in this paper are likely to be important for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and weather forecasting applications.