A research on the statistical relationships between auroras and geoinduced currents in power electric systems of the Russian Arctic

نویسندگان

1 Department of Informatics, Ufa University of Science and Technology, Ufa, Russia.

2 Department of Informatics, Ufa University of Science and Technology, Ufa, Russia.

doi
10.22059/jesphys.2025.385178.1007644
چکیده

Confident progress in developing the Russian Federation’s Arctic zone requires minimizing the negative impacts of space weather on electric power systems within the auroral oval. Some scientific studies propose methods for remote diagnostics of geoinduced currents (GIC) levels. However, despite the high accuracy of these methods, their applicability remains uncertain, and they cannot be implemented in regions lacking a dense coverage of reliable geomagnetic data sources, such as the Taimyr and Gydan Peninsulas and northern Yakutia.This paper discusses an approach to the non-hardware-based assessment of GIC levels in high-latitude electric power systems. The proposed method is based on GIC observation data from the Kola-Karelian transit area, which includes power transmission lines and substations forming a single chain over 1,100 km in length. Its distinctive feature is the use of auroras as natural indicators of the space weather conditions for problem-oriented interpretation.Using the example of the Vykhodnoy substation in the Northern Transit main power grid, it has been shown that the most probable (averaged over 30 minutes) GIC levels are 0.08 A, 0.23 A, and 0.68 A when auroras are observed to the north, at the zenith, and to the south, respectively. The probability of the average half-hour GIC level exceeding 2 A (when auroras are observed to the north, at the zenith, and to the south) is approximately 6%, 10%, and 15%, respectively. Finally, promising modernization methods and the applicability limits of the proposed approach are discussed.