Identification

Title

Comparison of magnetic perturbation data from LEO satellite constellations: Statistics of DMSP and AMPERE [postprint]

Abstract

During the past decade engineering-grade magnetic field measurements from the low Earth orbiting (LEO) Iridium constellation of communication satellites have been available to the geospace science community as a tool to map field-aligned currents. The Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) applied to Iridium measurements markedly improved the temporal and spatial resolution of these data. We developed new methods to compare data from the latest improvement to AMPERE with those from a constellation of four LEO Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft that carry high-resolution magnetometers. To perform the comparisons, we transformed all data to a common coordinate frame and altitude (110 km) and developed a means of computing spacecraft magnetic conjunctions. These conjunctions yield discrepancies in the magnetic field perturbations measured at each proximate spacecraft. During the geomagnetic disturbance of 29-30 May 2010, the vector differences in the horizontal perturbations at closest approach (typically a few tens of kilometers) had mean, median, and standard deviation values of 132 nT, 112 nT, and 90 nT, respectively. The DMSP spacecraft tend to report larger perturbations in the northern polar cap and cusp regions, especially during active intervals. We attribute some of the differences to limitations of spacecraft-attitude knowledge that propagate into AMPERE data. Overall, for the magnetic storm, we provide clear evidence that AMPERE data can provide high-resolution auroral zone data in good agreement with DMSP data for use in data assimilation algorithms. Such dual-use commercial data can provide important global augmentation to the nation's space weather monitoring capabilities.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7jh3nr4

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2014-01-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact