Ionospheric f oF2 anomalies during some intense geomagnetic storms

The global evolutions of f oF2 anomalies were examined for three very intense geomagnetic storms, namely the Halloween events of October–November 2003 (Event X, 29–30 October 2003, Dst −401 nT; Event Y, 20–21 November 2003, Dst −472 nT), and the largest Dst storm (Event Z, 13–14 March 1989, Dst −589 nT). For Event X, troughs (negative storms) were clearly seen for high northern and southern latitudes. For northern midlatitudes as well as for low latitudes, there were very strong positive effects on 29 October 2003, followed by negative effects the next day. For Event Y, there were no troughs in NH high latitudes for morning and evening hours but there were troughs for night. For midlatitudes and low latitudes, some longitudes showed strong negative effects in the early morning as expected, but some longitudes showed strong positive effects at noon and in the evening hours. Thus, there were many deviations from the model patterns. The deviations were erratic, indicating considerable local effects superposed on general patterns. A disconcerting feature was the presence of strong positive effects during the 24 h before the storm commencement. Such a feature appears only in the 24 h before the geomagnetic storm commencement but not earlier. If genuine, these could imply a prediction potential with a 24-h antecedence. For Event Z (13–14 March 1989, equinox), all stations (all latitudes and longitudes) showed a very strong “negative storm” in the main phase, and no positive storms anywhere.