We want to update Swarm users about the Swarm Alpha anomaly registered on 18 October 2020 at 11:48 UTC. Until yesterday, all the science data received on ground are corrupted and can not be processed up to L1B and L2.

After in-depth investigations, the ESA Swarm Flight Operations team confirmed that the issue is caused by a malfunctioning of the on-board telemetry module. All Swarm Science instruments will at the end of today again be switched on and a work-around has been put in place in order to receive uncorrupted science data by merging them into the house keeping data file.

Please note that the modification introduced in the data file structure has an impact on Swarm data processing chains. Although the instruments will be in nominal operation and data received and stored on the ground, we will register a delay for generating and distributing the Swarm L1B and higher level products.

We will update the Swarm community once Swarm Alpha data are nominally processed.