SA037-02
Exploring the Near-Earth Space Environment by Swarm and Mission Data of Different Scales
Wednesday, 16 December 2020: 08:34
Virtual
Claudia Stolle1,2, Rodriguez-Zuluaga Juan1, Yosuke Yamazaki1, Chao Xiong1, Guram Kervalishvili1 and Jaeheung Park3, (1)GFZ Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany, (2)University of Potsdam, Faculty of Science, Potsdam, Germany, (3)KASI Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon, South Korea
Abstract:
Describing the coupled Thermosphere/Ionosphere system requires observations on multiple scales and different parameters of the neutral and ionized gas. The special benefit can currently be drawn from simultaneous missions allowing these combinations. The GOLD mission regularly provides ultraviolet nightglow observations of the ionosphere above the South-Atlantic/South-American region with spatial resolution in the E‐W and N‐S directions for near nadir observations of about 93 km. During conjunctions with the polar-orbiting Swarm mission providing in situ observations of electron density, magnetic field and plasma drift with sampling rates of 1 Hz (7.5 km) or higher, we can compare large and medium scale structures related to post-sunset plasma depletions with their surroundings as seen from GOLD. We found, e.g., that not all depletions detected by Swarm are reflected in GOLD images and that the difference of the Swarm altitude and the reference altitude of GOLD scans need to be considered during interpretation.
Another example is provided by the combination of Swarm observations of the equatorial electrojet and MLS/Aura geopotential height data that revealed a burst of a quasi-6-day wave after the September 2019 Southern sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event. These results suggest that an Antarctic SSW can lead to ionospheric variability through wave forcing from the middle atmosphere.
Furthermore, a multitude of satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) carry avionics magnetometers for satellite attitude determination and control, such as Cryosat-2 and GRACE-FO, among others. These magnetometers, by design, do not meet high precision scientific requirements but have been shown to add valuable information in characterizing the Earth’s magnetic environment after appropriate calibration. First results obtained from these data will be presented and compared with Swarm results.
New opportunities arise from newly released data from the low inclination ICON mission. Possible benefits of Swarm-ICON comparison for expanding the topics mentioned above will also be discussed.
