A statistical comparison of solar wind sources of moderate and intense geomagnetic storms at solar minimum and maximum

Abstract

Superposed epoch analyses of 549 storms are performed to make a comparison of solar wind features of geomagnetic storm events at solar minimum (July 1974 to June 1977; July 1984 to June 1987; July 1994 to June 1997) and solar maximum (January 1979 to December 1981; January 1989 to December 1991; July 1999 to June 2002). In this study, geomagnetic storms are defined by the pressure-corrected Dst (Dst*) and classified into moderate storms (-100 nT