Global Data Systems for the Study of Solar-Terrestrial Variability

Editorial Board (December 2017)
Editor-in-Chief
Yasuo Ogawa, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

Vice Editors-in-Chief
Masato Furuya, Hokkaido University, Japan
Solid Earth Science

Nozomu Nishitani, Nagoya University, Japan
Space Science

Editors
Valerio Acocella
Ryosuke Ando
Yosuke Aoki
Kimiyuki Asano
Nanan Balan
Stephen Bannister
Paul Bedrosian
Phil Cummins
Koji Fukuma
Thomas Hobiger
Hauke Hussmann
Art Jolly
Attila Komjathy
Alexey Kuvshinov

Juanjo Ledo
Huixin Liu
Takuto Maeda
Koji Matsumoto
Yohei Miyake
Mitsuhiro Nakagawa
Junichi Nakajima
Haruhisa Nakamichi
Yasuhito Narita
Takuya Nishimura
Azusa Nishizawa
Takaaki Noguchi
Masahito Nose
Makiko Ohtake

Keiji Ohtsuki
Kyoko Okino
Taku Ozawa
Severine Rosat
Takeshi Sakanoi
David Shelly
Benoit Taisne
Hiroshi Takenaka
Sunny TamYoshiyuki Tanaka
Yanbin Wang
Yih-Min Wu
Takuji Yamada
Mare Yamamoto

Hiroo Kanamori
Jun'ichiro Kawaguchi
Takafumi Matsui
Hitoshi Mizutani

Toshitaka Tsuda
Zhongliang Wu
Kiyoshi Yomogida

Advisory Board
Benjamin Fong Chao
Bernard Chouet
Yoshimori Honkura
Toshihiko Iyemori

Journal Scope
Earth, Planets and Space (EPS) is the official journal of the Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary
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Earth, Planets and Space
Watanabe et al. Earth, Planets and Space (2017) 69:155
DOI 10.1186/s40623-017-0742-z

Open Access

PREFACESpecial Issue “Global data systems
for the study of solar-terrestrial variability”
Takashi Watanabe1*, Toshihiko Iyemori2, Kazuo Shiokawa3, Jie Zhang4, Shrikanth G. Kanekal5
and Nozomu Nishitani3of appropriate data and models to enable interdisciplinary usage of data and information. This approach will be
important for the data-oriented study of space weather
and solar–climate connections in which multidisciplinary
data analysis is inevitable because the majority of data are
not well documented and tend to be suitably structured
for machine-based combination.
For topic (3), five papers are included in this issue.
Among them, two papers discuss solar–interplanetaryphenomena relating to the intense geomagnetic stormthat initiated on March 17, 2015, widely known as the
St. Patrick’s Day Event. This geomagnetic storm was
associated with a partial halo coronal mass ejection(CME) occurred on March 15, 2015, which was associated with a C9.1/1F flare (S22W25). This storm’s minimum Dst reached − 228 nT (provisional) on March 18,
and this was the first super geomagnetic storm of solar
cycle 24. This event attracted considerable interest fromthe VarSITI community because the worldwide networkof space weather agencies did not expect such a strong
geomagnetic storm to be associated with the relatively
minor solar flare (e.g., Kamide and Kusano 2015; Baker
et al. 2016). As reported in this issue, Wu et al. (2016a,b), basing on detailed data analysis of solar and interplanetary observations, showed that the storm was caused bysubsequent arrivals of an interplanetary shock sheath,carrying the southward interplanetary magnetic field(IMF), and a large magnetic cloud (MC) with a strongly
southward IMF. Marubashi et al. (2016) fitted a flux-rope
model to the temporal change of IMF near the Earth,and they concluded that the observations are most consistently explained by a toroidal flux rope with the torus
plane nearly parallel to the ecliptic plane and that theobservations are characterized by the peculiar locationof near-Earth spacecraft, staying on the east-side flank of
the flux-rope loop throughout its passage.
The second strong geomagnetic storm discussed in theworkshop was that occurred on June 21–24, 2015, withThis special issue includes selected papers presented in
the “SCOSTEP–WDS Workshop on Global Data Activities for the Research of Solar-Terrestrial Variability,”
which was held at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Tokyo,
Japan, on September 28–30, 2015 (http://isds.nict.go.jp/
scostep-wds.2015.org/). This workshop was promotedby the Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics(SCOSTEP) and the World Data System (WDS), both ofwhich are Interdisciplinary Bodies of the International
Council of Science (ICSU). The principal objective of theworkshop was to stimulate interaction among data providers, data scientists, and data-oriented researchers participating in the SCOSTEP’s current research program
VarSITI (Variability of the Sun and Its Terrestrial Impact,
http://www.varsiti.org/). The long-term preservation andprovision of quality-assessed data and information will
be common objectives for both SCOSTEP and WDS. The
development of advanced data systems to enable scientists to perform multidisciplinary data analysis will be
another common target. Data analysis of selected solarterrestrial events was another important componentof the workshop. The principal topics of the workshop
were: (1) application of information technologies to data
activities; (2) data systems for VarSITI; (3) data analysis
of VarSITI Campaign Intervals and others; and (4) dataoriented collaborations between SCOSTEP and WDS.
The total number of participants was 71 (53 Japanese and18 foreign participants). In the workshop, 51 papers were
presented (four keynote presentations, 21 papers on thedata analysis of solar-terrestrial phenomena, and 26 technical papers on data systems).
For topic (1), the technical report by Ritchel et al.
(2017) explores the use of a semantic web-based mashup*Correspondence: takashi.watanabe@icsu‑wds.org
1
ICSU World Data System International Programme Office, C/O NICT,
Koganei, Tokyo 184‑8795, Japan
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article© The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

1

Global Data Systems for the Study of Solar-Terrestrial Variability
Watanabe et al. Earth, Planets and Space (2017) 69:155

Page 2 of 3

the minimum Dst of – 204 nT (provisional). This event
is known as the Summer Solstice 2015 Event and was
the result of at least three prominent coronal CMEs andassociated interplanetary shocks, which subsequently hit
the Earth’s magnetosphere (Baker et al. 2016). Cherniak
and Zakharenkova (2017) analyzed data from ~ 5800
ground-based GNSS stations, observing GPS and GLONASS radio signals to study high-latitude ionosphericdisturbances during the geomagnetic storm. From thiscase study, they demonstrated the advantage of such
“multi-constellation measurements” to monitor high-latitude ionospheric irregularities.
Two papers on long-term data analysis of solar-terrestrial phenomena are also included in this issue. Watari(2017) discussed the weakness of solar-terrestrial activity in the rising-maximum phase of the current solar
cycle (24). He showed that the low geomagnetic activity
in this cycle is caused by the weak dawn-to-dusk solar
wind electric field. It was also reported in this paper thatthe majority of the 17 geomagnetic storms with minimum Dst indices of less than – 100 nT that occurred in
2009–2015, including the previously mentioned strong
geomagnetic storm in March 2015 and June 2015, werecaused by relatively slow CMEs. Araki and Shinbori(2016) studied the local-time variation of the characteristics of storm sudden commencements (SSCs) basedon the global geomagnetic database of 1953–2003. They
concluded that the SC amplitude at 4–5 h local time of
middle- and low-latitude stations most directly reflects
the dynamic pressure effect of the solar wind. Based on
this finding, they re-estimated the amplitude of the threelargest SCs observed since 1868.
In summary, the data-analysis papers in this special
issue provide us with current progress in the understanding of solar-terrestrial phenomena observed in the
VarSITI interval and in the wider time span. These studies mainly depend on databases provided by researchgroups, data centers, and data networks. International
collaboration of these data providers will be important toensure long-term data management because the majority of data providers are operated under more or lessunstable conditions. In addition, owing to the inherently
multidisciplinary character of SCOSTEP-led research
programs, collaboration with the informatic community
is inevitable for effective data usage, such as introducing
the advanced technology of data mining, data processing and data presentation. Further collaboration between
SCOSTEP and WDS will be important in these aspects.
Finally, we wish to inform the SCOSTEP communityof the sudden demise of Prof. Shi-Tsan Wu [Alabama
University in Huntsville (Fig. 1)] on May 21, 2017, at
the age of 83. He was internationally recognized for his
works on the solar-terrestrial relationship, particularly

Fig. 1 Prof. Shi Tsan Wu (1933–2017)

for the pioneering works on numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modeling of CMEs. He had submitted a presentation on the data-driven MHD simulationof CMEs (e.g., Wu et al. 2016b), to be presented at the
WDS Asia-Oceania Conference 2017 held in Kyoto,
Japan, on September 27–29, 2017 (http://wdc2.kugi.
kyoto-u.ac.jp/wds2017/), which was planned to bea follow-up of the SCOSTEP–WDS Workshop. His
paper was presented at the conference by one of his colleagues. He will be sorrowfully missed by his friends
and colleagues.
Authors’ contributions
All authors of this article served as guest editors for this special issue. TW pre‑pared this preface with the agreement of the other authors. All authors readand approved the final manuscript.
Author details
1
ICSU World Data System International Programme Office, C/O NICT, Koganei,
Tokyo 184‑8795, Japan. 2 WDC for Geomagnetism, Kyoto, Graduate Schoolof Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606‑8502, Japan. 3 Institute for Space‑EarthEnvironmental Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464‑8601, Japan.
4
Department of Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University, 4400
University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA. 5 Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA,
Washington, DC, USA.
Acknowledgements
We would thank the members of the scientific organizing committee for the
SCOSTEP–WDS Workshop on Global Data Activities for the Research of Solar‑
Terrestrial Variability, the conference participants, and especially the authors of
the papers in this special issue. We are grateful to the referees who served toevaluate the contributions and gave helpful comments and suggestions.

Publisher’s NoteSpringer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in pub‑lished maps and institutional affiliations.
Received: 26 October 2017 Accepted: 26 October 20172

Earth, Planets and Space
Watanabe et al. Earth, Planets and Space (2017) 69:155

Page 3 of 3

References
Araki T, Shinbori A (2016) Relationship between solar wind dynamic pressure
and amplitude of geomagnetic sudden commencement (SC). Earth
Planets Space 68:90. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623‑016‑0444‑yBaker DN, Jaynes AN, Kanekal SG, Foster JC, Erickson PJ, Fennell JF, Blake
JB, Zhao H, Li X, Elkington SR, Henderson MG, Reeves GD, Spence HE,
Kletzing CA, Wygant JR (2016) Highly relativistic radiation belt electron
acceleration, transport, and loss: large solar storm events of Marchand June 2015. J Geophys Res Space Phys 121:6647–6660. https://doi.
org/10.1002/2016JA022502
Cherniak I, Zakharenkova I (2017) New advantages of the combined GPS andGLONASS observations for high‑latitude ionospheric irregularities moni‑
toring: case study of June 2015 geomagnetic storm. Earth Planets Space
69:66. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623‑017‑0652‑0
Kamide Y, Kusano K (2015) No major solar but the largest geomagnetic
storm in the present solar cycle. Space Weather 13:365–367. https://doi.
org/10.1002/2015SW001213
Marubashi K, Cho K‑S, Kim R‑S, Park S‑H, Ishibashi H (2016) The 17 March
2015 storm: the associated magnetic flux rope structure and the storm
development. Earth Planets Space 68:173. https://doi.org/10.1186/
s40623‑016‑0551‑9

Ritchel R, Borchert F, Kneitschel G, Neher G, Schildbach S, Iyemori T, Koyama
Y, Yatagai A, Hori T, Hapgood M, Belehaki A, Galkin I, King T (2017) Experi‑ments using Semantic Web technologies to connect IUGONET, ESPAS
and GFZ ISDC data portals. Earth Planets Space 68:181. https://doi.
org/10.1186/s40623‑016‑0542‑x
Watari S (2017) Geomagnetic storms of cycle 24 and their solar sources. Earth
Planets Space 69:70. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623‑017‑0653‑z
Wu C‑C, Liou K, Lepping RP, Hutting L, Plunkett S, Howard RA, Socker D (2016a)
Earth, The first super geomagnetic storm of solar cycle 24: “The St. Pat‑
rick’s day event (17 March 2015)”. Earth Planets Space 68:151. https://doi.
org/10.1186/s40623‑016‑0525‑yWu S‑T, Zhou Y, Jiang C, Feng X, Wu C‑C, Hu Q (2016b) A data‑constrained
three‑dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulation model for a coro‑
nal mass ejection initiation. J Geophys Res Space Phys 121:1009–1023.
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JA021615

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Global Data Systems for the Study of Solar-Terrestrial Variability

FULL PAPER

Open Access

The first super geomagnetic storm of solar cycle 24:“The St. Patrick’s day event (17 March 2015)”
Chin-Chun Wu*, Kan Liou, Ronald P. Lepping, Lynn Hutting, Simon Plunkett, Russ A. Howard
and Dennis Socker
Earth, Planets and Space 2016, 68:151 DOI:10.1186/s40623-016-0525-y
Received: 12 March 2016, Accepted: 18 August 2016, Published: 2 September 2016

Abstract
The first super geomagnetic storm (Dst < −200 nT) of solar cycle 24 occurred on “St. Patrick’s day” (17 March 2015). Notably, it
was a two-step storm. The source of the storm can be traced back to the solar event on 15 March 2015. At ~2:10 UT on thatday, SOHO/LASCO C3 recorded a partial halo coronal mass ejection (CME), which was associated with a C9.1/1F flare (S22W25)
and a series of type II/IV radio bursts. The initial propagation speed of this CME is estimated to be ~668 km/s. An interplanetary(IP) shock, likely driven by a magnetic cloud (MC), arrived at the Wind spacecraft at 03:59 UT on 17 March and caused a sudden
storm commencement. The storm intensified during the Earth’s crossing of the ICME/shock sheath and then recovered slightly
after the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) turned northward. The IMF started turning southward again due to a large MC
field itself, which caused the second storm intensification, reaching a minimum value (Dst = −223 nT). It is found that the firststep is caused by a southward IMF component in the sheath (between the upstream shock and the front of the MC), whereas
the second step is associated with the passage of the MC. The CME that erupted on 15 March is the sole solar source of theMC. We also discuss the CME/storm event with detailed data from observations (Wind and SOHO) and our algorithm forpredicting the intensity of a geomagnetic storm (Dstmin)
a 0000UT 2015-03-15 b 0148UT 2015-03-15 c 0200UT 2015-03-15 d 0212UT 2015-03-15
from known IP parameter values. We found that choosing
the correct Dstmin estimating formula for predicting theintensity of MC-associated geomagnetic storms is crucial
for space weather predictions.

Keywords: Coronal mass ejection, Interplanetary shock,Super geomagnetic storm, Magnetic cloud

Figure 1*Corresponding author: Chin-Chun Wu, chin-chun.wu@nrl.navy.mil

FULL PAPER

Open Access

The 17 March 2015 storm: the associated magnetic flux rope structure
and the storm development
Katsuhide Marubashi*, Kyung-Suk Cho, Rok-Soon Kim, Sujin Kim, Sung-Hong Parkand Hiromitsu Ishibashi
Earth, Planets and Space 2016, 68:173 DOI:10.1186/s40623-016-0551-9
Received: 17 May 2016, Accepted: 22 October 2016, Published: 8 November 2016

Abstract
The objective of this study is (1) to determine the magnetic cloud (MC) structure associated with the 17 March 2015 storm and (2) togain an insight into how the storm developed responding to the solar wind conditions. First, we search MC geometries which can
explain the observed solar wind magnetic fields by fitting to both cylindrical and toroidal flux rope models. Then, we examine how
the resultant MC geometries can be connected to the solar source region to find out the most plausible model for the observed MC.
We conclude that the observations are most consistently explained by a toroidal flux rope with the torus plane nearly parallel to theecliptic plane. It is emphasized that the observations are characterized by the peculiar spacecraft crossing through the MC, in that themagnetic fields to be observed are southward throughout the passage. For understanding of the storm development, we firstestimate the injection rate of the storm ring current from the observed Dst variation. Then, we derive an expression to calculate theestimated injection rate from the observed solar wind variations. The point of the method is to evaluate the injection rate by the
convolution of the dawn-to-dusk electric field in the solar wind and a response
function. By using the optimum response function thus determined, we obtaina modeled Dst variation from the solar wind data, which is in good agreementwith the observed Dst variation. The agreement supports the validity of our
method to derive an expression for the ring current injection rate as a functionof the solar wind variation.

Keywords: Magnetic cloud, Coronal mass ejection, Flux rope, Solar wind,
Solar wind magnetic field, Geomagnetic storm, Ring current,
Injection rate, Dst*Corresponding author: Katsuhide Marubashi, kmaru_bg@kzh.biglobe.ne.jp
4Graphical abstract

Earth, Planets and SpaceLETTER

Open Access

Relationship between solar wind dynamic pressure andamplitude of geomagnetic sudden commencement (SC)
Tohru Araki* and Atsuki Shinbori
Earth, Planets and Space 2016, 68:90 DOI:10.1186/s40623-016-0444-y
Received: 29 January 2016, Accepted: 14 April 2016, Published: 28 May 2016

Abstract
The local time variation of geomagnetic sudden commencements (SCs) has not been taken into account in the Siscoe’s linear
relationship which connects the SC amplitude with the corresponding dynamic pressure variation of the solar wind. By
considering the physical background of SC, we studied which local time is best to extract the information of the solar winddynamic pressure and concluded that the SC amplitude at 4–5 h local time of middle- and low-latitude stations most directlyreflects the dynamic pressure effect. This result is used to re-check the order of magnitude of the largest 3 SCs observed since
1868.

Keywords: Geomagnetic sudden commencement, Solar wind dynamic
pressure, Local time variation, Siscoe’s relationship, Largest
sudden commencement

Figure 3*Corresponding author: Tohru Araki, tohru.araki.24m@st.kyoto-u.ac.jp

LETTER

Open AccessNew advantages of the combined GPS and GLONASS observations
for high-latitude ionospheric irregularities monitoring:case study of June 2015 geomagnetic storm
Iurii Cherniak* and Irina Zakharenkova
Earth, Planets and Space 2017, 69:66 DOI:10.1186/s40623-017-0652-0
Received: 17 August 2016, Accepted: 2 May 2017, Published: 12 May 2017

Abstract
Monitoring, tracking and nowcasting of the ionospheric plasma density disturbances using dual-frequency measurements of the Global
Positioning System (GPS) signals are effectively carried out during several decades. Recent rapid growth and modernization of the groundbased segment gives an opportunity to establish a great database consisting of more than 6000 stations worldwide which provide GPS
signals measurements with an open access. Apart of the GPS signals, at least two-third of these stations receive simultaneously signals
transmitted by another Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)—the Russian system GLONASS. Today, GLONASS signal measurements aremainly used in navigation and geodesy only and very rarely for ionosphere research. We present the first results demonstrating advantages ofusing several independent but compatible GNSS systems like GPS and GLONASS for improvement of the permanent monitoring of thehigh-latitude ionospheric irregularities. For the first time, the high-resolution two-dimensional maps of ROTI perturbation were made using
not only GPS but also GLONASS measurements. We extend the use of the ROTI maps for analyzing ionospheric irregularities distribution. We
demonstrate that the meridional slices of the ROTI maps can be effectively used to study the occurrence and temporal evolution of theionospheric irregularities. The meridional slices of the geographical sectors with a high density of the GPS and GLONASS measurements canrepresent spatio-temporal dynamics of the intense ionospheric plasma density
irregularities with very high resolution, and they can be effectively used for
detailed study of the space weather drivers on the processes of the ionosphericirregularities generation, development and their lifetimes. Using a representative
database of ~5800 ground-based GNSS stations located worldwide, we haveinvestigated the occurrence of the high-latitude ionospheric plasma density
irregularities during the geomagnetic storm of June 22–23, 2015.

Keywords: GPS, GLONASS, Plasma irregularities, ROTI, High-latitude ionosphere,
Geomagnetic storm

Figure 4*Corresponding author: Iurii Cherniak, tcherniak@ukr.net
5

Global Data Systems for the Study of Solar-Terrestrial Variability

LETTER

Open AccessGeomagnetic storms of cycle 24 and their solar sources
Shinichi Watari
Earth, Planets and Space 2017, 69:70 DOI:10.1186/s40623-017-0653-z
Received: 30 April 2016, Accepted: 12 May 2017, Published: 19 May 2017

Abstract
Solar activity of cycle 24 following the deep minimum between cycle 23 andcycle 24 is the weakest one since cycle 14 (1902–1913). Geomagnetic activity
is also low in cycle 24. We show that this low geomagnetic activity is causedby the weak dawn-to-dusk solar wind electric field (Ed–d) and that theoccurrence rate of Ed–d > 5 mV/m decreased in the interval from 2013 to 2014.
We picked up seventeen geomagnetic storms with the minimum Dst index
of less than −100 nT and identified their solar sources in cycle 24 (2009–2015). It is shown that the relatively slow coronal mass ejections contributed
to the geomagnetic storms in cycle 24.

Keywords: Geomagnetic storm, Rising and maximum phases, Two peaks,
Solar cycle 24, Coronal mass ejection, Coronal hole

Figure 1

Corresponding author: Shinichi Watari, watari@nict.go.jp

TECHNICAL REPORT

Open AccessExperiments using Semantic Web technologies to connect IUGONET,ESPAS and GFZ ISDC data portals
Bernd Ritschel*, Friederike Borchert, Gregor Kneitschel, Günther Neher, Susanne Schildbach,Toshihiko Iyemori, Yukinobu Koyama, Akiyo Yatagai, Tomoaki Hori, Mike Hapgood, Anna Belehaki,Ivan Galkin and Todd King
Earth, Planets and Space 2016, 68:181 DOI:10.1186/s40623-016-0542-x
Received: 22 April 2016, Accepted: 6 October 2016, Published: 14 November 2016

Abstract
E-science on the Web plays an important role and offers the most advanced technology for the integration of data systems. It also
makes available data for the research of more and more complex aspects of the system earth and beyond. The great number of
e-science projects founded by the European Union (EU), university-driven Japanese efforts in the field of data services andinstitutional anchored developments for the enhancement of a sustainable data management in Germany are proof of the relevanceand acceptance of e-science or cyberspace-based applications as a significant tool for successful scientific work. The collaboration
activities related to near-earth space science data systems and first results in the field of information science between the EU-funded
project ESPAS, the Japanese IUGONET project and the GFZ ISDC-based researchand development activities are the focus of this paper. The main objective of thecollaboration is the use of a Semantic Web approach for the mashup of the project
related and so far inoperable data systems. Both the development and use of
mapped and/or merged geo and space science controlled vocabularies and theconnection of entities in ontology-based domain data model are addressed. The
developed controlled vocabularies for the description of geo and space science
data and related context information as well as the domain ontologies itself with
their domain and cross-domain relationships will be published in Linked OpenData.

Keywords: E-science, Semantic Web, Linked Open Data, Data system, System

mashup, Controlled vocabulary, Domain ontology, Terminologicalontology*Corresponding author: Bernd Ritschel, berndritschel@yahoo.de
6

Figure 1

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Contents
Special Issue “Global data systems for the study of solar-terrestrial variability”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Takashi Watanabe, Toshihiko Iyemori, Kazuo Shiokawa, Jie Zhang, Shrikanth G. Kanekal and Nozomu Nishitani
The first super geomagnetic storm of solar cycle 24: “The St. Patrick’s day event (17 March 2015)”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chin-Chun Wu, Kan Liou, Ronald P. Lepping, Lynn Hutting, Simon Plunkett, Russ A. Howard and Dennis Socker
The 17 March 2015 storm: the associated magnetic flux rope structure and the storm development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katsuhide Marubashi, Kyung-Suk Cho, Rok-Soon Kim, Sujin Kim, Sung-Hong Park and Hiromitsu Ishibashi
Relationship between solar wind dynamic pressure and amplitude of geomagnetic sudden commencement (SC). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tohru Araki and Atsuki Shinbori
New advantages of the combined GPS and GLONASS observations for high-latitude ionospheric irregularities
monitoring: case study of June 2015 geomagnetic storm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Iurii Cherniak and Irina Zakharenkova
Geomagnetic storms of cycle 24 and their solar sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shinichi Watari
Experiments using Semantic Web technologies to connect IUGONET, ESPAS and GFZ ISDC data portals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bernd Ritschel*, Friederike Borchert, Gregor Kneitschel, Günther Neher, Susanne Schildbach, Toshihiko Iyemori,
Yukinobu Koyama, Akiyo Yatagai, Tomoaki Hori, Mike Hapgood, Anna Belehaki, Ivan Galkin and Todd King

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Cover image: Wu, C.-C. et al., Earth, Planets and Space 2016, 68:151 DOI:10.1186/s40623-016-0525-y