Correlation of Solar Activities with the Telluric Currents Level in the Northern Region of Malaysia

The relation between solar activities and the geomagnetic field induced currents (GIC) have been well studied in the auroral region and it usually occurs most frequently at high latitudes. However, during major geomagnetic storms, the auroral zone can extend substantially towards lower latitudes. Disturbance caused by solar activities can disrupt power grids and also increase the corrosion rate of buried natural gas pipelines. GIC are driven by the geomagnetic field induced by a geomagnetic disturbance. In this paper, we investigated the correlation between solar activities using the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and geomagnetic disturbance storm time (DST) index data with the telluric currents (also referred to as geomagnetic induced currents GIC) level through the disturbance pattern of geomagnetic field. The research areas are from Lunas in Kedah to Perlis. The pattern of geomagnetic field disturbance had been identified and analyzed to investigate the harmful effect of geomagnetic storms towards the performance of complex power grid in Malaysia.