DISC
DISC ActivitiesSwarm DISC (the Data, Innovation and Science Cluster) is a consortium of expert partners with a project office at DTU Space.
Swarm-AuroraThe aurora is a unique manifestation of plasma processes in the near-Earth space environment. Swarm-Aurora was designed to facilitate and drive the use of Swarm in situ measurements in auroral science. Swarm-Aurora will build a bridge between the Swarm and auroral science communities. Swarm-Aurora (http://swarm-aurora.phys.ucalgary.ca) is a web-based tool which provides access to quick-look summary data for a large array of ground-based instruments, as well as Swarm in situ measurements. This web interface allows researchers to quickly and efficiently browse Swarm and ASI data sets to identify events of interest. Swarm-Aurora drastically lowers the barrier of entry to optical and swarm data, reducing the time needed to do a survey of Swarm and ground-based instruments for investigating auroral phenomena. We expect this project to form the basis of the next generation of data viewers and access protocols for auroral science. The platform is built to be scalable (to other instruments, both ground and in situ) and useable for decades to come.
More information about this project can be found at Swarm-AuroraXAuroraX-DISC activities is building directly on the Swarm-Aurora framework. The team will continue to evolve the metadata and summary data from the satellites and the ground-based (and ultimately space-based) imagers in response to suggestions by users. The motivation for these activities is to bring as much auroral data to the Swarm mission as is possible, to provide better and faster identification of interesting events, and to provide connections between the Swarm mission and citizen scientists who are interested in the aurora. This is meant to compliment for example SuperDARN and SuperMag which provide fairly quick access to summaries of data from the global HF radar and magnetometer networks operated by more than a dozen nations. There is at present no such system for the auroral observations, and AuroraX will become that system.
More information about this project can be found at Multi-Approach Gravity Field models from Swarm GPS data (MAGF)
Although the knowledge of the gravity of the Earth has improved considerably with CHAMP, GRACE and GOCE satellite missions, the geophysical community has identified the need for the continued monitoring of its time-variable component with the purpose of estimating the hydrological and glaciological yearly cycles and long-term trends. Currently, the GRACE-FO satellites are the sole provider of this data, while previously the GRACE mission collected these data for 15 years. Between the GRACE and GRACE-FO data periods lies a gap spanning from July 2017 to May 2018, while the Swarm satellites have collected gravimetric data with its GPS receivers since December 2013. Project documentation:
More information about this project can be found at Auroral Electrojet and auroral Boundaries estimated from Swarm observations (Swarm-AEBS)
The Swarm mission provides an excellent opportunity for studies related to the ionospheric currents, aurora, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, and space weather especially at high latitudes.
More information about this project can be found at The Average Magnetic field and Polar current System model (AMPS)The outcome of this project is a new climatological model of polar ionospheric currents, based on magnetic field measurements from the CHAMP and Swarm satellites. The model is a representation of the global disturbance magnetic field associated with ionospheric currents, as a function of solar wind speed, the interplanetary magnetic field, the tilt angle of the Earth's magnetic dipole, and the F10.7 solar flux index. The ionospheric current system, and an estimate of the magnetic disturbances on ground, can be derived from the model coefficients. This is an advancement compared to earlier empirical models because the full horizontal current density can be derived directly from magnetic field measurements, without any assumption about conductivity or electric fields. The AMPS model is valid in both hemispheres, and no assumptions about hemispheric symmetries have been applied. For this reason, and since we have corrected for variations in Earth's magnetic field, the model can be used to do precise comparisons of the ionospheric current system in the two hemispheres. The AMPS forward code, pyAMPS, is available at https://github.com/klaundal/pyAMPS. This code can be used to calculate model magnetic field and currents for a given set of input parameters. The documentation for the code can be found at https://pyamps.readthedocs.io. A web-interface for the model can be found at https://birkeland.uib.no/data/amps/. Here you can plot the model current system or magnetic field disturbances on polar maps in the two hemispheres. The model output can be changed using drop-down menus, and the input can be changed by adjusting sliders or by clicking a plot of the solar wind conditions from the previous 24 hours. Useful model information:
Even more detailed documentation: Project duration: September 2017 - August 2018. This project was funded by ESA via the Swarm DISC, Sub-Contract No. SW-CO-DTU-GS-113. Ionospheric Plasma IRregularities characterised by the Swarm satellites (IPIR)
Ionospheric plasma is often characterised by irregularities and fluctuations in its density. They are the result of various plasma instabilities, reflecting complex interactions in the near-Earth space environment. Plasma density irregularities and fluctuations can influence the propagation of trans-ionospheric radio waves and are thus of importance for ground based operations that rely on precise positioning with Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Understanding ionospheric plasma irregularities and fluctuations is thus of both scientific and practical interest.
More information about this project can be found at Geomagnetic Virtual Observatories (GVO)In this project, Geomagnetic Virtual Observatories (GVO) data series are derived from Swarm data collected around target locations. The GVO data product consists of time series of vector magnetic field values at fixed locations, on a uniform grid at satellite altitude. Such data, regularly distributed in space and time are suitable for modelling the main geomagnetic field, for core flow inversion studies, and for data assimilation studies of the core dynamo process. GVOs are designed to make Swarm data more accessible to researchers studying the physics of the core dynamo process, and related phenomenon such are secular variation, geomagnetic jerks and rapid core dynamics. The GVOs data product also provide valuable information to those interested in investigating magnetospheric and ionospheric magnetic signals on timescales of months and longer. GVO time series including all field contributions, and those processed to isolate the core field, are available along with estimated errors.
More information about this project can be found at Plasmapause Related boundaries in the topside Ionosphere as derived from Swarm Measurements (PRISM)
The position of the plasmapause (PP) is a key parameter in space weather. The plasmapause is defined as the outer boundary of the Earth-corotating plasma (the plasmasphere) characterised by steep plasma density gradients. The variation of the PP location is a very sensitive indicator of geomagnetic activity. There are many space phenomena (e.g., cold plasma and energetic particle populations, etc.) separated spatially by the PP, as well as several space processes (e.g., high-latitude magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling processes, etc.) that are dynamically linked to the location of the plasmapause.
More information about this project can be found at Swarm Ion Temperature Estimation (SITE)Ion temperature is one of the key parameters that provides insight into the thermal balance of the coupled ionosphere-thermosphere system. Together with the temperatures of neutral and electron gases, it controls various physical and chemical processes in the upper atmosphere. These include the ion-neutral collision frequencies, chemical reaction rates and plasma scale height, all of which affect the variation and distribution of the electron density. The Swarm satellites carry out continuous measurements of ionospheric electron temperatures and densities using the Langmuir probes (LP) which are part of the electric field instrument (EFI). Ion temperature measurements, however, are not currently available. The main objective of this project is to estimate ion temperatures along the orbits of Swarm satellites using available LP electron density and temperature measurements, and numerical models. To accomplish this task, it is planned to develop a physics-based, data-driven model of the ion temperature along the orbits of the Swarm satellites from equator to high latitudes, evaluate the validity of the model under different geophysical conditions, and validate estimated ion temperatures against independent measurements. This new data product, which will be available to the scientific community, is expected to enhance the ability of the Swarm mission to provide more complete information about the ionospheric plasma, and thus, will enhance the overall scientific return of the mission. Project duration: January 2020 – April 2021. This project is funded by ESA via the Swarm DISC, Sub-Contract No. SW-CO-DTU-GS-123. |
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