Fractal and wavelet analysis evaluation of the mid latitude ionospheric disturbances associated with major geomagnetic storms

Variations of the total electron content (TEC) of the ionosphere are mainly associated with major geomagnetic storms occurring with the arrival of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) to the Earth environment. The purpose of this paper is to show results of the analysis we made of the impact of all major geomagnetic storms (Dst<-200nT) on the ionosphere at mid latitudes, which have occurred since 2000. The analysis consists in the calculation of TEC of the ionosphere using data from several Mexican GPS stations, with the purpose of quantifying the impact into the ionosphere to these latitudes, through the variations in amplitude, Hurst index, that is roughness, and wavelet transform of the time series of TEC. Indeed, during the geomagnetic storms of April 7, 2000, July 16, 2000, October 30, 2003, November 20, 2003 and November 8, 2004, major ionospheric disturbances at mid latitudes took place with changes in amplitude of TEC going from 3.29 to 8.82 sigmas. These ionospheric disturbances were probably associated with prompt penetration electric fields (PPEFs) and equatorward neutral winds. On the other hand, during four geomagnetic storms (August 12, 2000, March 31, 2001, April 11, 2001 and May 15, 2005), there were negative ionospheric storms that pushed the TEC to significantly lower values. This has been interpreted as the presence of regions in which the neutral composition is changed. Also, in some cases during the disturbed days, the Hurst values were smaller than during the undisturbed days, i.e. during these geomagnetic storms, the roughness of the time series of TEC increased. The wavelet analysis showed a strong influence of the diurnal variation on TEC values (periodicities of 12 h), and periodicities characteristics of ionospheric disturbances of 1–8 h. It is found that large geomagnetic storms produce significant ionospheric disturbances at mid latitudes, as shown by the wavelet analysis and, in some cases, changes in the roughness of the time series of TEC as shown by the Hurst exponent.