Disturbance storm time index

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/disturbance-storm-time-index

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the unit of magnetic field strength?Nano-Tesla (nT), representing one billionth of a Tesla
2. What is the Disturbance storm time index (Dst)?The Dst index measures how strong a geomagnetic storm is by looking at the Earth's ring current. It shows how much the Earth's magnetic field changes during a storm.
3. How does the Dst index show a geomagnetic storm?When the ring current gets stronger, it creates a magnetic field that weakens the Earth's main field. This makes the horizontal part of the magnetic field measured at many places go lower, giving a negative Dst value.

Ring Current: A westward flowing electrical current in Earth's inner magnetosphere, primarily composed of energetic protons and electrons.
Geomagnetic Storm: A significant disturbance of Earth's magnetosphere caused by the interaction of the solar wind with the planet's magnetic field.
Coronal Mass Ejection (CME): A massive eruption of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun's corona into space.
Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GICs): Electrical currents induced in Earth's crust and long conductors by rapidly changing geomagnetic fields.