The AUTUMNX magnetometer meridian chain in Québec, Canada

Abstract

The AUTUMNX magnetometer array consists of 10 THEMIS-class ground-based magnetometers deployed to form a meridian chain on the eastern coast of Hudson Bay in eastern Canada, a second partial chain one hour of magnetic local time further east, and one magnetometer at an intermediate midlatitude site. These instruments, augmented by those of other arrays, permit good latitudinal coverage through the auroral zone on two meridians, some midlatitude coverage, and detection of magnetic field changes near the sensitive infrastructure of the Hydro-Québec power grid. Further, they offer the possibility for conjugate studies with Antarctica and the GOES East geosynchronous satellite, and complement the Chinese International Space Weather Meridian Circle Program. We examine current world distribution of magnetometers to show the need for AUTUMNX, and describe the instrumentation which allows near-real-time monitoring. We present magnetic inversion results for the disturbed day February 17, 2015, which showed classic signatures of the substorm current wedge, and developed into steady magnetospheric convection (SMC). For a separate event later that day, we examine a large and rapid magnetic field change event associated with an unusual near-Earth transient. We show GOES East conjugacy for these events.