First Joint Observations of Space Weather Events over Mexico

TL;DR

This paper reports the first joint space weather observations over Mexico, demonstrating the detection of geomagnetic, ionospheric, cosmic ray, and radio disturbance effects using a local network of instruments, emphasizing regional monitoring importance.

Contribution

It presents the first combined space weather event observations in Mexico using a local instrument network, showcasing regional effects and the utility of new space weather products.

Findings

Detected geomagnetic and ionospheric disturbances on June 22, 2015.

Observed cosmic ray flux variations and radio interferences on September 29, 2015.

Validated the use of regional space weather products for monitoring.

Abstract

The Mexican Space Weather Service (SCiESMEX in Spanish) and National Space Weather Laboratory (LANCE in Spanish) were organized in 2014 and in 2016 respectively to provide space weather monitoring and alerts, as well as scientific research in Mexico. In this work, we present the results of the first joint observations of two events (22 June, 2015, and 29 September, 2015) with our local network of instruments and their related products. This network includes the MEXART radio telescope (solar flare and radio burst), the Compact Astronomical Low-frequency, Low-cost Instrument for Spectroscopy in Transportable Observatories (CALLISTO) at MEXART station (solar radio burst), the Mexico City Cosmic Ray Observatory (cosmics ray fluxes), GPS receiver networks (ionospheric disturbances), and the Geomagnetic Observatory of Teoloyucan (geomagnetic field). The observations show that we detected significant space weather effects over the Mexican territory: geomagnetic and ionospheric disturbances (22 June, 2015), variations in cosmic rays fluxes, and also radio communications interferences (29 September, 2015). The effects of these perturbations were registered, for the first time, using space weather products by SCiESMEX: TEC maps, regional geomagnetic index K mex , radio spectrographs of low frequency, and cosmic rays fluxes. These results prove the importance of monitoring space weather phenomena in the region and the need to strengthening the instrumentation network.