The strongest event of geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) detected by the North‐West Russian GIC network occurred during the main phase of the magnetic storm on 28 and 29 June 2013. Extremely high value, 120 A, was recorded in the 330 kV transformers on Kola Peninsula in the 04–07 magnetic local time (MLT) sector. The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft took a sequence of ultraviolet (UV) auroral images in the southern hemisphere and observed multiple omega bands. The ionospheric equivalent electric currents based on the International Monitor for Auroral Geomagnetic Effects (IMAGE) magnetometer network reveal a sequence of current vortex pairs moving eastward with the speed of 0.5–2.5 km/s that fits to the electrodynamics scheme of omega bands. Although the temporal variations of the associated current system are slow, the omega bands can be responsible for strong magnetic variations and GIC due to fast propagations of currents in the azimuthal direction.

Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) represent a significant challenge for society on a stable electricity supply. Space weather activates global electromagnetic and plasma processes in the near-Earth environment, however, the highest risk of GICs is related not directly to those processes with enormous energy yield, but too much weaker, but fast, processes. Here we consider several typical examples of such fast processes and their impact on power transmission lines in the Kola Peninsula and in Karelia: interplanetary shocks; traveling convection vortices; impulses embedded in substorms; and irregular Pi3 pulsations. Geomagnetic field variability is examined using data from the IMAGE (International Monitor for Auroral Geomagnetic Effects) magnetometer array. We have confirmed that during the considered impulsive events the ionospheric currents fluctuate in both the East-West and North-South directions, and they do induce GIC in latitudinally extended electric power line. It is important to reveal the fine structure of fast geomagnetic variations during storms and substorms not only for a practical point of view but also for a fundamental scientific view.

This review, offered for the first time in the Russian scientific literature, is devoted to various aspects of the problem of the space weather impact on ground-based technological systems. Particular attention is paid to hazards to operation of power transmission lines, railway automation, and pipelines caused by geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) during geomagnetic disturbances. The review provides information on the main characteristics of geomagnetic field variability, on rapid field variations during various space weather mani-festations. The fundamentals of modeling geoelectric field disturbances based on magnetotelluric sounding algorithms are presented. The approaches to the assessment of possible extreme values of GIC are considered. Information about economic effects of space weather and GIC is collected. The current state and prospects of space weather forecasting, risk assessment for technological systems from GIC impact are discussed. While in space geophysics various models for predicting the intensity of magnetic storms and their related geomagnetic disturbances from observations of the interplanetary medium are being actively developed, these models cannot be directly used to predict the intensity and position of GIC since the description of the geomagnetic field variability requires the development of additional models. Revealing the fine structure of fast geomagnetic variations during storms and substorms and their induced GIC bursts appeared to be important not only from a practical point of view, but also for the development of fundamentals of near-Earth space dynamics. Unlike highly specialized papers on geophysical aspects of geomagnetic variations and engineering aspects of the GIC impact on operation of industrial transformers, the review is designed for a wider scientific and technical audience without sacrificing the scientific level of presentation. In other words, the geophysical part of the review is written for engineers, and the engineering part is written for geophysicists. Despite the evident applied orientation of the studies under consideration, they are not limited to purely engineering application of space geophysics results to the calculation of possible risks for technological systems, but also pose a number of fundamental scientific problems.

The rapid changes of magnetic fields associated with nighttime magnetic perturbations with amplitudes |ΔB| of hundreds of nanoteslas and 5‐ to 10‐min periods can induce bursts of geomagnetically induced currents that can harm technological systems. This paper presents three cases of intervals of intense and complex nighttime magnetic perturbations in eastern Arctic Canada in 2015, augmented by observations from auroral imagers and high‐altitude spacecraft in the nightside magnetosphere. Each case occurred within 1 hr after substorm onsets. None occurred during the main phase of a geomagnetic storm, and only the first during the early recovery phase (of a moderate storm). The cases were similar in that two or three intervals occurred in this region over a span of ~1 hr; these showed a spatial progression, in that successive intervals occurred later at more western and northern stations. During several intervals, individual peak Bx impulses occurred nearly simultaneously (within 1–2 min) at several stations, while during others the impulses occurred later at more western and northern stations, and during one interval they occurred later at southern stations. During both of the cases for which auroral images were available, a westward traveling surge and a poleward auroral expansion and/or poleward boundary intensification occurred, and during two events auroral streamers coincided in time and location with magnetic perturbations. These observations appear to be consistent with several earlier studies connecting nighttime magnetic perturbation events to localized auroral structures and to dipolarizing flux bundles and bursty bulk flows in the magnetotail.

An intriguing effect was found while analyzing the small‐scale variations of total electron content (TEC) derived from global positioning system (GPS) signals. We found a response in TEC variations to intense global Pc5 pulsations with periods of a few millihertz covering the corrected geomagnetic latitudes ~58°–75° during the recovery phase of the strong magnetic storms on 31 October 2003. Earlier studies demonstrated that the GPS‐TEC technique is a powerful method to study the propagation pattern of transient disturbances in the ionosphere, generated by seismic or internal gravity waves. This technique has turned out to be sensitive enough to ULF waves as well. During periods with intense Pc5 geomagnetic wave activity, distinct pulsations with the same periodicity were found in the TEC data from high‐latitude GPS receiving stations in Scandinavia. Wavelet and cross‐spectral analysis showed a high coherence (~0.9) between the periodic geomagnetic and TEC variations. Moreover, the relative amplitude of TEC periodic fluctuations ΔTEC/TEC was about or even larger than the relative amplitude of geomagnetic variations ΔB/B. So far, the effect of TEC modulation by Pc5 waves is not well understood and is still a challenge for the MHD wave theory. Various possible modulation mechanisms have been estimated, but no mechanism has been firmly identified.

The rapid changes of magnetic fields associated with large, isolated magnetic perturbations with amplitudes |ΔB| of hundreds of nanotesla and 5‐ to 10‐min periods can induce bursts of geomagnetically induced currents that can harm technological systems. This paper presents statistical summaries of the characteristics of nightside magnetic perturbation events observed in Eastern Arctic Canada from 2014 through 2017 using data from stations that are part of four magnetometer arrays: MACCS, AUTUMNX, CANMOS, and CARISMA, covering a range of magnetic latitudes from 68 to 78°. Most but not all of the magnetic perturbation events were associated with substorms: roughly two thirds occurred between 5 and 30 min after onset. The association of intense nighttime magnetic perturbation events with magnetic storms was significantly reduced at latitudes above 73°, presumably above the nominal auroral oval. A superposed epoch study of 21 strong events at Cape Dorset showed that the largest |dB/dt| values appeared within an ~275‐km radius that was associated with a region of shear between upward and downward field‐aligned currents. The statistical distributions of impulse amplitudes of both |ΔB| and |dB/dt| fit well the log‐normal distribution at all stations. The |ΔB| distributions are similar over the magnetic latitude range studied, but the kurtosis and skewness of the |dB/dt| distributions show a slight increase with latitude. Knowledge of the statistical characteristics of these events has enabled us to estimate the occurrence probability of extreme impulsive disturbances using the approximation of a log‐normal distribution.