(Left) Time series of the dipolar components of our MMA model (points) with a 12-h cadence and the Vector Magnetic Disturbance (VMD) index Thomson and Lesur (2007) (lines). The top left panel shows the axisymmetric dipole, $q_0^1$, from the MMA (blue points) alongside the symmetric part of the negative VMD index (blue line). The bottom left panel displays the equatorial dipoles $q_1^1$ (green) and $s_1^1$ (orange) from the same MMA solution (points), compared with the negative VMD index (lines). (Right) Correlation plots of MMA vs. VMD. Text boxes with the best fit line and corresponding Pearson correlation coefficient R value, using the same colours as the left panels. Dotted grey line shows a line with slope –1.