Moderate Magnetic Storms on April 28–May 2, 2023

Abstract

Magnetic storm, ionospheric storm, atmospheric storm, and electrical storm are the components of a geospace storm resulting from a solar storm. In the literature, the main attention is paid to the analysis of severe and extreme geospace storms. It is these storms that have the greatest impact on the Earth–atmosphere–ionosphere–magnetosphere system. They are most dangerous for space-based and ground-based technological systems. Such storms have a significant impact on human well-being and health. Minor and moderate storms are much less studied than severe and extreme ones. There are good reasons to believe that such storms can have some impact on the systems and people. It is important that the frequency of occurrence of moderate storms is much greater than the frequency of occurrence of severe storms. All this determined the relevance of this work, which consists in the study of magnetic disturbances that arise during moderate geospace storms, which receive undeservedly little attention. The purpose of this paper is to analyze on a global scale the temporal variations of geomagnetic field components during moderate magnetic storms on April 28–29 and May 1–2, 2023. The latitudinal dependence of the geomagnetic field components temporal variations during two moderate magnetic storms in April–May 2023 and on reference days was analyzed on a global scale using the data of the global network of Intermagnet stations. The limits of fluctuations in the level of the geomagnetic field under quiet conditions and during moderate storms were estimated. The range of variations in the geomagnetic field level under quiet conditions decreased from 200–260 to 30–50 nT with decreasing geographic latitude. During the storms, these limits increased 1.3–2.1 times. The variations in the level of components at stations equidistant from the equator were close. This is true for both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. The fluctuations of the geomagnetic field level at the stations operating approximately at the same latitude but in different hemispheres were also close.