Study of local regularities in solar wind data and ground magnetograms

• ACE and geomagnetic field dataset were explored via discrete wavelet transform.
• New approach called effectiveness wavelet coefficient (EWC) was implemented.
• The increase of EWC was associated with the shock and sheath regions.
• A similar increase in the EWC was also detected at ground magnetograms.
• This new approach presented promising results.

Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) can reach the Earth׳s magnetosphere causing magnetic disturbances. For monitoring purposes, some satellites measure the interplanetary parameters which are related to energy transfer from solar wind into magnetosphere, while ground-based magnetometers measure the geomagnetic disturbance effects. Data from the ACE satellite and from some representative magnetometers were examined here via discrete wavelet transform (DWT). The increase in the amplitude of wavelet coefficients of solar wind parameters and geomagnetic field data is well-correlated with the arrival of the shock and sheath regions, and the sudden storm commencement and main phase, respectively. As an auxiliary tool to verify the disturbed magnetic fields identified by the DWT, we developed a new approach called effectiveness wavelet coefficient (EWC) methodology. The first interpretation of the results suggests that DWT and EWC can be effectively used to characterize the fluctuations on the solar wind parameters and their contributions to the geomagnetic field. Further, this kind of technique could be implemented in quasi real-time to facilitate the identification of the shock and the passage of the sheath region which sometimes can be followed by geoeffective magnetic clouds. Also, the technique shows to be very useful for the identification of time intervals in the dataset during geomagnetic storms which are associated to interplanetary parameters under very well defined conditions. It allows selecting ideal events for investigation of magnetic reconnection in order to highlight in a more precise manner the mechanisms existing in the electrodynamical coupling between the solar wind and the magnetosphere.