Study and observation of the great solar event in July 2000 at cusp latitude

A series of solar flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) event occurred in July 2000, particularly the largest flare (X5.7/3B) with CME on 14th of July since 1989, which stimulated a great geomagnetic storm with Dst index reaching -300 nT. A number of data have been obtained from the Chinese Antarctic Zhongshan Station (ZHS, INT Lat. 74.5°, L≈14）, which is located at cusp latitude, and from the ACE satellite. After analyzing these data we have got the results as follows: a lot of solar high energy particles penetrated into the polar ionosphere and ionized it, which significantly increased the cosmic noise absorption (CNA) and blanked the DPS-4 data for more than two days. The magnetic pulsation in Pc 3/5 frequency band on the ground has a high relation with the fluctuation of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz, which shows the contribution of interplanetary magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) waves to the Pc 3/5 pulsation on the ground. The Pc 3/5 pulsation was intensified much during the great magnetic storm. The H component of the magnetic field at ZHS varied with the southern value of IMF Bz but lagged behind for about 8 10 h. While Dst index responded to the variation of the IMF Bz very quickly, which suggested that the magnetic storm occurred at low latitude firstly and then effected the ionospheric current at high latitude.