The relationship between interplanetary quantities and magnetic activity in the southern polar cap

The polar cap magnetic activity MAGPC-index characterizing the intensity of disturbances affected by the IMF vertical component was derived from the antarctic station Vostok data in accordance to method of Troshichev et al. (1979a). The paper examines the statistical relationship between the 15-min values of this index and interplanetary quantities such as IMF components, solar wind velocity, interplanetary electric field and others. The results of the computation show a good correlation of MAGPC indices with interplanetary quantities including the IMF southward component. The best correlation is obtained for the merging electric field. The conclusion is: the MAGPC index derived from the background magnetic data may be used for monitoring of the convection electric field in the polar cap. (author)