Ionospheric Multi-Spacecraft Analysis Tools: Approaches for Deriving Ionospheric Parameters

by Malcolm Wray Dunlop (Editor), Hermann Lïhr (Editor)

Overview

This open access book provides a comprehensive toolbox of analysis techniques for ionospheric multi-satellite missions. The immediate need for this volume was motivated by the ongoing ESA Swarm satellite mission, but the tools that are described are general and can be used for any future ionospheric multi-satellite mission with comparable instrumentation.

In addition to researching the immediate plasma environment and its coupling to other regions, such a mission aims to study the Earth’s main magnetic field and its anomalies caused by core, mantle, or crustal sources. The parameters for carrying out this kind of work are examined in these chapters. Besides currents, electric fields, and plasma convection, these parameters include ionospheric conductance, Joule heating, neutral gas densities, and neutral winds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030267315
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	10/17/2019
Series:	ISSI Scientific Report Series , #17
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Malcom Dunlop is research group leader at RAL Space and Professor at Beihang University. He is a visiting Professor at Warwick University and Imperial College. He has long experience in analysing magnetospheric and ionospheric data and is Co-I on several space missions. His research interests cover: the study of the ring current, field-aligned currents, magnetospheric boundaries, magnetic reconnection and current layers. He is the only individual awarded three special achievement Cluster medals.

Hermann Lühr was Professor of Geophysics at Technical University fo Braunschweig and Senior Scientist at Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Potsdam, Germany. He has been (Co-)-PI of several research projects and space missions incl. CHAMP and Swarm; served on various committees and was awaded a series of prestigious medals and prizes. His scientific interests include geomagnetism, magnetospheric/ionospheric physics, plasma physics, current systems, upper atmosphere, space weather, and instrument development.

Table of Contents

Dedication.- Preface.- Chapter ​1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Introduction to Spherical Elementary Current Systems.- Chapter 3: Spherical Elementary Current Systems applied to Swarm data.- Chapter 4: Local least squares analysis of auroral current structures in multi-spacecraft data.- Chapter 5: Multi-spacecraft current estimates at Swarm.- Chapter 6: Applying the dual-spacecraft approach to the Swarm constellation for deriving radial current density. Chapter 7: Science data products for AMPERE.- Chapter 8: ESA Field Aligned Currents - Methodology Inter-Comparison Exercise.- Chapter 9: Spherical Cap Harmonic Analysis techniques for mapping high-latitude ionospheric plasma flow - Application to the Swarm satellite mission.- Chapter 10: Recent Progress on Inverse and Data Assimilation Procedure for High-Latitude Ionospheric Electrodynamics.- Chapter 11: Estimating currents and electric fields at low-latitudes from satellite magnetic measurements.- Chapter 12. Models of the main geomagnetic field based on multi-satellite magnetic data and gradients – Techniques and latest results from the Swarm mission.- Index.