Submit to Universe Review for Universe Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Space Weather

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
Published Papers

A special issue of Universe (ISSN 2218-1997). This special issue belongs to the section "Space Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 35323

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Essam Ghamry

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor

National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), 11421 Helwan, Cairo, Egypt
Interests: space geophysics; observational ground magnetic, electric and space weather; magnetosphere and ionosphere; non-seismological earthquake precursors; lithospheric magnetic field model
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Nurul Shazana Binti Abdul Hamid

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

1. Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
2. Space Science Centre, Institute of Climate Change, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Interests: space and earth electromagnetism- space weather; ionospheric; earthquake study; astronomy; computational physics- signal processing; fractal analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Zheng Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Institute of Space Weather, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, No. 219, Ningliu Road, Nanjing 210044, China
Interests: nitric oxide cooling in lower thermosphere; ionosphere and middle atmosphere coupling; thermospheric and ionospheric storms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last few years, the term space weather has increasingly been used to describe phenomena in the near-earth space environment that impact on telecommunications, transportation, electric power, satellite navigation, spacecraft design and operations, and other technologies on Earth. This Special Issue welcomes observational space weather studies related to the magnetosphere and the ionosphere using Van Allen Probe, THEMIS, MMS (NASA's missions), Swarm (ESA's mission), Arase (Japanese/Taiwan mission), and CSES (Chinese mission). In particular, we encourage integrated data analyses of satellites and ground-based network observations to study energetic particles in the geo-space, magnetic storms/substorms, and wave–particle interactions, such as ultra-low-frequency (ULF) and electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) wave observations. Moreover, space weather forecasting tools, for example, the GPS/GNSS radio occultation technique, performing atmospheric measurements using Metop, COSMIC, and other satellites, are also of interest to this Special Issue. Results from related observations and simulation/modeling studies on magnetospheric research, ionospheric irregularities, and wave propagation from the troposphere are appreciated. Case studies, reviews, and other research studies that are relevant to space weather topics are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Essam Ghamry
Dr. Nurul Shazana Binti Abdul Hamid
Dr. Zheng Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Universe is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

ground-based magnetic observatories
satellite geomagnetism
ionospheric studies and irregularities
solar storms/magnetospheric substorms
ULF/EMIC wave observations
LEO satellite data analysis
GPS/GNSS RO applications

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (11 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Editorial

Jump to: Research

5 pages, 182 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Editorial to the Special Issue “Space Weather”

by Essam Ghamry, Nurul Shazana Abdul Hamid and Zheng Li

Universe 2022, 8(2), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe8020059 - 18 Jan 2022

Viewed by 1639

Abstract

The present Special Issue is focused on the term space weather, which has increasingly been used to describe phenomena in the near-earth space environment that impact telecommunications, transportation, electric power, satellite navigation, spacecraft design and operations, and other technologies on Earth [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Weather)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

15 pages, 8120 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Ionospheric Index to Investigate Electron Temperature Small-Scale Variations in the Topside Ionosphere

by Alessio Pignalberi, Igino Coco, Fabio Giannattasio, Michael Pezzopane, Paola De Michelis, Giuseppe Consolini and Roberta Tozzi

Universe 2021, 7(8), 290; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe7080290 - 6 Aug 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2471

Abstract

The electron temperature (Te) behavior at small scales (both spatial and temporal) in the topside ionosphere is investigated through in situ observations collected by Langmuir Probes on-board the European Space Agency Swarm satellites from the beginning of 2014 to the end of 2020. Te observations are employed to calculate the Rate Of change of electron TEmperature Index (ROTEI), which represents the standard deviation of the Te time derivative calculated over a window of fixed width. As a consequence, ROTEI provides a description of the small-scale variations of Te along the Swarm satellites orbit. The extension of the dataset and the orbital configuration of the Swarm satellites allowed us to perform a statistical analysis of ROTEI to unveil its mean spatial, diurnal, seasonal, and solar activity variations. The main ROTEI statistical trends are presented and discussed in the light of the current knowledge of the phenomena affecting the distribution and dynamics of the ionospheric plasma, which play a key role in triggering Te small-scale variations. The appearance of unexpected high values of ROTEI at mid and low latitudes for specific magnetic local time sectors is revealed and discussed in association with the presence of Te spikes recorded by Swarm satellites under very specific conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Weather)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 1027 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identification of Fractal Properties in Geomagnetic Data of Southeast Asian Region during Various Solar Activity Levels

by Farhan Naufal Rifqi, Nurul Shazana Abdul Hamid, A. Babatunde Rabiu and Akimasa Yoshikawa

Universe 2021, 7(7), 248; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe7070248 - 16 Jul 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2327

Abstract

The fractal properties of geomagnetic northward component data (H-component) in the equatorial region during various phases of solar activity over Southeast Asia were investigated and then quantified using the parameter of the Hurst exponent (H). This study began with the identification of existence of spectral peaks and scaling properties in international quiet day H-component data which were measured during three levels of solar activity: low, intermediate, and high. Then, various cases of quiet and disturbed days during different solar activity levels were analyzed using the method that performed the best in the preceding part. In all the years analyzed, multifractal scaling and spectral peaks exist, signifying that the data have fractal properties and that there are external factors driving the fluctuations of geomagnetic activity other than solar activity. The analysis of various cases of quiet and disturbed days generally showed that quiet days had anti-persistence tendencies (H < 0.5) while disturbed days had persistence tendencies (H > 0.5)—generally a higher level of Hurst exponent compared to quiet days. As for long-term quiet day H-component data, it had a Hurst exponent value that was near H ≃ 0.50, while the long-term disturbed day H-component data showed higher values than that of the quiet day. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Weather)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 2149 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mechanisms and Evolution of Geoeffective Large-Scale Plasma Jets in the Magnetosheath

by Alexei V. Dmitriev, Bhavana Lalchand and Sayantan Ghosh

Universe 2021, 7(5), 152; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe7050152 - 17 May 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2222

Abstract

Geoeffective magnetosheath plasma jets (those that interact with the magnetopause) are an important area of research and technology, since they affect the “space-weather” around the Earth. We identified such large-scale magnetosheath plasma jets with a duration of >30 s using plasma and magnetic data acquired from the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) multi-spacecraft experiment during the years 2007 to 2009. We present a statistical survey of 554 of such geoeffective jets and elaborate on four mechanisms for the generation of these jets as the upstream solar wind structures of tangential discontinuities (TDs), rotational discontinuities (RDs), the quasi-radial interplanetary magnetic field (rIMF) and the collapsing foreshock (CFS) interrupting the rIMF intervals. We found that 69% of the jets are generated due to the interaction between interplanetary discontinuities (TD: 24%, RD: 25%, CFS: 20%) with the bow shock. Slow and weak jets due to the rIMF contributed to 31% of these jets. The CFS and rIMF were found to be similar in their characteristics. TDs and RDs contributed to most of the fast and powerful jets, with large spatial scales, which might be attributed to transient effects in the travelling foreshock. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Weather)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 10491 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Statistical Analysis of Plasma Bubbles Observed by Swarm Constellation during Different Types of Geomagnetic Storms

by Fayrouz Hussien, Essam Ghamry and Adel Fathy

Universe 2021, 7(4), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe7040090 - 6 Apr 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3361

Abstract

Based on the observations of Ionospheric Bubble Index (IBI) data from the Swarm mission, the characteristics of plasma bubbles are investigated during different types of geomagnetic storms recorded from 2014 to 2020. The geometrical constellation of the Swarm mission enabled us to investigate the altitudinal profile of the IBIs during different activity levels in a statistical mean. Results show that the majority of IBIs associated with moderate storms are observed at low altitudes and the probability of observing IBIs at high altitudes (Swarm-B) increases with the increase in storm level. This is confirmed by observing the F2 layer peak height (hmF2) during super storm events at larger altitudes using COSMIC data. The maximum number of IBIs is recorded within the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) region with a long duration time and tends to increase only during dusk time. Both the large duration time and number of IBIs over the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) suggest that the gradient in the electron density and the depression in the magnetic field are the main factors controlling IBI events. Also, the IBIs at high altitudes are larger at sunset and at low altitudes pre-midnight. In addition, the occurrence of IBIs is always larger in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere irrespective of the type of storm, as well as during the summer months. Moreover, there is no correlation between the duration time of IBIs and both the altitudinal observation of the IBIs and the storm type. Seasonal occurrence of IBIs is larger during equinoxes and vice versa during solstices irrespective of both the type of storm and the altitude of the satellite. The large number of IBIs during equinoxes agrees with the previous studies, which expect that the large electron density is a developer of steeper

\nabla_{n}

. Large occurrences of super storm IBIs observed within the pre-midnight during summer and at sunset during equinoxes are a novel observation that needs further investigation. Also, the majority of IBIs are observed a few hours after geomagnetic substorms, which reflects the role of the Disturbance Dynamo Electric Field (DDEF) as a main driver of IBIs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Weather)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 2288 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Holocene Millennial-Scale Solar Variability and the Climatic Responses on Earth

by Xinhua Zhao, Willie Soon and Victor M. Velasco Herrera

Universe 2021, 7(2), 36; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe7020036 - 4 Feb 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4643

Abstract

The solar impact on Earth’s climate is both a rich and open-ended topic with intense debates. In this study, we use the reconstructed data available to investigate periodicities of solar variability (i.e., variations of sunspot numbers) and temperature changes (10 sites spread all over the Earth) as well as the statistical inter-relations between them on the millennial scale during the past 8640 years (BC 6755–AD 1885) before the modern industrial era. We find that the variations of the Earth’s temperatures show evidence for the Eddy cycle component, i.e., the 1000-year cyclicity, which was discovered in variations of sunspot numbers and believed to be an intrinsic periodicity of solar variability. Further wavelet time-frequency analysis demonstrates that the co-variation between the millennium cycle components of solar variability and the temperature change held stable and statistically strong for five out of these 10 sites during our study interval. In addition, the Earth’s climatic response to solar forcing could be different region-by-region, and the temperatures in the southern hemisphere seemed to have an opposite changing trend compared to those in the northern hemisphere on this millennial scale. These findings reveal not only a pronounced but also a complex relationship between solar variability and climatic change on Earth on the millennial timescale. More data are needed to further verify these preliminary results in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Weather)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 2903 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of EEJ Longitudinal Variation from Satellite and Ground Measurements over Different Solar Activity Levels

by Wan Nur Izzaty Ismail, Nurul Shazana Abdul Hamid, Mardina Abdullah, Akimasa Yoshikawa, Teiji Uozumi and Zahira Mohd Radzi

Universe 2021, 7(2), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe7020023 - 23 Jan 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2950

Abstract

The longitudinal variability and local time of equatorial electrojet (EEJ) current using simultaneous data recorded by ground and satellite magnetometers at different levels of solar activity were investigated. In this study, we used data from the CHAMP and Swarm satellites to obtain EEJ current measurements around the globe. The ground data were provided by the MAGDAS, INTERMAGNET, and IIG networks. The ground observation was carried out by analyzing magnetometer data in four different sectors: the South American, Indian, African, and Southeast Asian sectors. These ground data were normalized to the dip equator to overcome the latitudinal variation of each station. The analysis for both measurements was performed using quiet day data. Both the ground and satellite data were categorized according to solar activity level; low, moderate, and high. The results revealed that, during the low solar activity, there was a good agreement between the longitudinal profiles of the EEJ measured using the satellite and the ground data. In general, strong correlations were obtained in most of the sectors where ground data were available between 11 and 13 local time (LT). Besides that, our analysis revealed that the different times of maximum EEJ appearances were seasonally dependent only at certain longitude sectors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Weather)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 4745 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Correlations between Earthquake Properties and Characteristics of Possible ULF Geomagnetic Precursor over Multiple Earthquakes

by Khairul Adib Yusof, Mardina Abdullah, Nurul Shazana Abdul Hamid, Suaidi Ahadi and Akimasa Yoshikawa

Universe 2021, 7(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe7010020 - 19 Jan 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3971

Abstract

In this study, we improved and adapted existing signal processing methods on vast geomagnetic field data to investigate the correlations between various earthquake properties and characteristics of possible geomagnetic precursors. The data from 10 magnetometer stations were utilized to detect precursory ultra-low frequency emission and estimate the source direction for 34 earthquakes occurring between the year 2007–2016 in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and South America regions. As a result, possible precursors of 20 earthquakes were identified (58.82% detection rate). Weak correlations were obtained when all precursors were considered. However, statistically significant and strong linear correlations (

r \geq 0.60, p < 0.05

) were found when the precursors from two closely located stations in Japan (Onagawa (ONW) and Tohno (TNO)) were exclusively investigated. For these stations, it was found that the lead time of the precursor is strongly (or very strongly) correlated with the earthquake magnitude, the local seismicity index, and the hypocentral depth. In addition, the error percentage of the estimated direction showed a strong correlation with the hypocentral depth. It is concluded that, when the study area is restricted to a specific location, the earthquake properties are more likely to have correlations with several characteristics of the possible precursors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Weather)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 2236 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of Coronal Mass Ejections on the Seasonal Variation of the Ionospheric Critical Frequency f₀F2

by Hussein M. Farid, Ramy Mawad, Essam Ghamry and Akimasa Yoshikawa

Universe 2020, 6(11), 200; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe6110200 - 30 Oct 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2428

Abstract

We investigated the relations between the monthly average values of the critical frequency (f₀F2) and the physical properties of the coronal mass ejections (CMEs), then we examined the seasonal variation of f₀F2 values as an impact of the several CMEs properties. Given that, f₀F2 were detected by PRJ18 (Puerto Rico) ionosonde station during the period 1996–2013. We found that the monthly average values of f₀F2 are varying coherently with the sunspot number (SSN). A similar trend was found for f₀F2 with the CMEs parameters such as the CME energy (linear correlation coefficient R = 0.73), width (R = 0.6) and the speed (R = 0.6). The arrived CMEs cause a plasma injection into the ionosphere, in turn, increasing the electron density, and consequently, f₀F2 values. This happens in the high latitudes followed by the middle and lower latitudes. By examining the seasonal variation of f₀F2, we found that the higher correlation between f₀F2 and CMEs parameters occurs in the summer, then the equinoxes (spring and autumn), followed by the winter. However, the faster CMEs affect the ionosphere more efficiently in the spring more than in the summer, then the winter and the autumn seasons. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Weather)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

9 pages, 3243 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Evidence for Solar Modulation on the Millennial-Scale Climate Change of Earth

by Xinhua Zhao, Willie Soon and Victor M. Velasco Herrera

Universe 2020, 6(9), 153; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe6090153 - 18 Sep 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3811

Abstract

In this study, we use available reconstructed data to investigate periodicities of solar activity (i.e., sunspot number) and the Earth’s climate change (temperatures of Lake Qinghai in China and Vostok in Antarctica, the GISP δ¹⁸O climate record of Greenland, and the stalagmite δ¹⁸O monsoon records of Dongge Cave in China) as well as their cross-wavelet coherences on millennial scale. We find that the variations of the Earth’s climate indices exhibited the 1000-year cyclicity, which was recently discovered in solar activity (called Eddy cycle). The cross-wavelet correlations between the millennium-cycle components of sunspot number and the Earth’s climate change remains both strong and stable during the past 8640 years (BC 6755–AD 1885). The millennial variation of sunspot number keeps in-phase with variations of Lake Qinghai temperature, Greenland temperature, and East Asian Monsoon, but anti-phase with the variation of Antarctica temperature. The strong and stable resonant relationships between sunspot numbers and these climate indices indicate that solar variability may have played a role in modulation on this millennial seesaw pattern of the Earth’s climate change before the modern industrial era. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Weather)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

8 pages, 1993 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Ionospheric Behavior of foF2 over Chinese EIA Region and Its Comparison with IRI-2016

by Peng Zhu, Cong Xie, Chunhua Jiang, Guobin Yang, Jing Liu, Zhengqiang Li and Zhengyu Zhao

Universe 2020, 6(8), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe6080122 - 11 Aug 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2380

Abstract

The ionograms, which were recorded by the ionosonde located at Pu’er station (PUR, 22.7° N, 101.05° E, Dip Latitude 12.9° N) in the Southwest of China in the year of 2016, were used to study the ionospheric behavior of the ordinary critical frequency of the F2 layer (foF2) in the region of the northern equatorial ionization anomaly. To verify the performance of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) over the Southwest of China, a comparative study of the observed foF2 and the latest version of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI-2016) was carried out. We found that the foF2 in equinox months is greater than summer and winter. Moreover, a higher frequency of the observed bite-out of foF2 in January and April than other months and the IRI-2016 cannot represent the bite-out of foF2 in diurnal variations. Compared to the observations at Pu’er Station, the IRI-2016 underestimated foF2 for most time of the year. The IRI with the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) option overestimated foF2 is higher than that with the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) option. Furthermore, the normalized root mean square error of foF2 from the IRI-2016 with the CCIR option is less than that with the URSI. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Weather)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Space Weather

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Published Papers (11 papers)

Editorial

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI