On the relation between the SYM-H and Dst- indices during the development of magnetic storm

The Dst-index obtained by hourly average values of the magnetic field at four stations located in various longitudinal sectors at latitudes Φ′≈20-30° is the index of magnetic field depression at low latitudes during the magnetic storm periods. Recently for the characteristics of magnetic field depression the SYM-H index has been used. It is obtained from 1 min data of the magnetic field at ~10 stations, located mainly at latitudes Φ′≈40-50° [1]. It is considered in [2-4] that the SYM-H index is an analog of Dst but with a better temporal resolution. As shown in [5], during super magnetic storms with Dst variation ≥ 400 nT, the SYM-H variations can considerably differ from Dst behavior and thus the SYM-H index is not always an analog of Dst. In this paper the relation between the Dst and SYM-H variations for magnetic storms of different intensity, with Dst varying from ~ -50 nT to -450 nT is investigated.