Actividad geomagnética y sus relación con la dirección del campo magnético interplanetario.

Abstract

A correlation analysis was carried out between the three hourly averages of the northern and southern solar magnetospheric components of the interplanetary magnetic field and the three hourly values of the geomagnetic Kp index, during the 1964-1969 period, with the further stipulation that the component of the interplanetary field in the ecliptic plane pointed either toward the sun or away from it. The results show that a greater geomagnetic activity is associated with fields pointing toward the sun than with fields pointing in the opposite direction. The results are qualitatively explained in terms of the possible existence of a heliographic latitude-dependence of both plasma-flow and interplanetary field polarity properties.