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Abstract

An intense geomagnetic storm with Dst. ~ -211 nT occurred on 01 March 1982. The storm was accompanied by a sudden storm commencement (SSC) at around 11:40 UT. At around 13:15 UT, an excess heating (> 400-500 K) at an altitude of ~ 250 km was reported by Gupta et al. (1986) over equatorial latitudes. They discussed three possible mechanisms that were known by the researchers then, including (i) effective propagation of energy by gravity waves from auroral to low latitudes, (ii) deposition of energy through joule heating and (iii) energy input into the thermosphere associated with the development of ring current. All these mechanisms were discarded on the basis of the time they take. Oyama et al. (2005) studied the same event using HINOTORI satellite and observed higher temperature at 600 km over low latitudes during the storm main phase. They did not observe any changes in the temperature during SSC. Gupta et al. (1986) concluded that the deposition of energy was localized and suggested that other possible sources need to be explored. After 3 decades of advancement in the field and the knowledge, we revisit the event to explore any role of radiation belt high energy particles in depositing some energy directly or indirectly into the thermosphere at lower latitudes. The particle observations from GOES & POES, the plasma wave observations from Dynamic Explorer will be discussed in detail to understand the process that might have taken place at that time.