The Contribution of Geomagnetic Activity to Ionospheric foF2 Trends at Different Phases of the Solar Cycle by SWM

Solar activity dominates the temporal variability of ionospheric properties, which makes it difficult to identify and isolate the effects of geomagnetic activity on the ionosphere. Therefore, the latter effects on the ionosphere are still unclear. Here, we use the spectral whitening method (SWM)-a proven approach to extract ionospheric perturbations caused by geomagnetic activity-to directly obtain, in isolation, the effects of geomagnetic activity. We study its contribution to the ionosphere for different phases of the solar cycle. The time lag between the solar and geomagnetic activities provides an opportunity to understand the contribution of geomagnetic activity to the perturbation of the ionosphere. The results suggest that this contribution to the ionosphere is significant when geomagnetic activity is at its maximum level, which usually happens in the declining phase of the solar cycle, but the contribution is very weak at the solar minimum and during the ascending phase. Then, by analyzing the contributions in different months, we find that the role of geomagnetic activity is larger around winter but smaller around summer.