| Title | Calibration and assessment of Swarm ion drift measurements using a comparison with a statistical convection model |
| |
| Author | Fiori, R A D ;
Koustov, A V; Boteler, D H; Knudsen, D J; Burchill, J
K |
| Source | Earth, Planets and Space vol. 68, no. 100, 2016., https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-016-0472-7  Open Access |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2016 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20150495 |
| Publisher | Springer Nature |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf; html |
| Area | global |
| Lat/Long WENS | -180.0000 180.0000 90.0000 -90.0000 |
| Subjects | extraterrestrial geology; mathematical and computational geology; Health and Safety; solar cycles; ionosphere; satellites; analytical methods |
| Illustrations | analyses |
| Program | Public Safety Geoscience Northern Canada Geohazards Project |
| Released | 2016 06 07 |
| Abstract | The electric field instruments onboard the Swarm satellites make high-resolution measurements of the F-region ion drift. This paper presents an initial investigation of preliminary ion drift data made
available by the European Space Agency. Based on data taken during polar cap crossings, we identify large offsets in both the along-track and crosstrack components of the measured ion drift. These offsets are removed by zeroing drift values at the
low-latitude boundary of the high-latitude convection pattern. This correction is shown to significantly improve agreement between the Swarm ion drift measurements and velocity inferred from a radar-based statistical convection model for periods of
quasi-stability in the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field. Agreement is most pronounced in the cross-track direction (R = 0.60); it improves slightly (R = 0.63) if data are limited to periods with IMF Bz < 0. The corrected Swarm data were
shown to properly identify the convection reversal boundary for periods of IMF Bz < 0, in full agreement with previous radar and satellite measurements, making Swarm ion drift measurements a valuable input for ionospheric modeling. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
Space weather refers to the dynamic conditions on the Sun and in the space environment, in particular, in the near-Earth environment, that can affect
critical infrastructure. NRCan operates the Canadian Space Weather Forecast Centre and conducts research into space weather effects on power systems, pipelines, radio communications and GNSS positioning to help Canadian industry understand and
mitigate the effects of space weather. Space weather processes in the polar ionosphere are the subject of the Swarm satellite mission. New knowledge generated by the mission will contribute to the future development of space weather services. This
paper examines Swarm measurements and compares them with a statistical model. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 297855 |
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