A wavelet based approach to Solar-Terrestrial Coupling

Transient and recurrent solar activity drive geomagnetic disturbances; these are quantified (amongst others) by DST, AE indices time-series. Transient disturbances are related to the Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections (ICMEs) while recurrent disturbances are related to corotating interaction regions (CIR). We study the relationship of the geomagnetic disturbances to the solar wind drivers within solar cycle 23 where the drivers are represented by ICMEs and CIRs occurrence rate and compared to the DST and AE as follows: terms with common periodicity in both the geomagnetic disturbances and the solar drivers are, firstly, detected using continuous wavelet transform (CWT). Then, common power and phase coherence of these periodic terms are calculated from the cross-wavelet spectra (XWT) and wavelet-coherence (WTC) respectively. In time-scales of ≈27 days our results indicate an anti-correlation of the effects of ICMEs and CIRs on the geomagnetic disturbances. The former modulates the DST and AE time series during the cycle maximum the latter during periods of reduced solar activity. The phase relationship of these modulation is highly non-linear. Only the annual frequency component of the ICMEs is phase-locked with DST and AE. In time-scales of ≈1.3-1.7 years the CIR seem to be the dominant driver for both geomagnetic indices throughout the whole solar cycle 23.