Multi-spacecraft analysis toolkit for Swarm

最近的空间任务，如CHAMP和厄尔斯特德，极大地促进了我们对行星磁学的理解。然而，基于单个航天器磁场测量的数据解释和全球场模拟通常受到时空模糊性的限制。即将到来的欧空局三航天器飞行任务群将能够解决这一问题，从而更好地区分对地球磁场的内部贡献和外部贡献。为了充分挖掘Spot的多点特性及其科学仪器组合的潜力，我们计划根据任务的具体情况量身定做一个数据分析工具包。本提案中描述的项目将建立在欧空局多航天器飞行任务组所作努力的基础上。我们将侧重于通过对星座较低轨道上的两颗SARGER卫星进行现场测量来确定极光过程和当前系统。在这方面特别重要的是高纬度的场向电流。将开发新的技术，并将其与现有方法结合成一个统一的框架，以确定磁场数据在空间上的局部贡献，也可能是随时间变化的贡献。在我们项目的背景下开发的分析工具具有双重用途。首先，预计他们将支持SPP 1488中的其他小组对内部起源的行星磁场进行建模。其次，它们将成为对极光通量管电离层两端的等离子体过程进行长期研究的基础，具体细节将在这一优先方案的更新提案中具体说明。

Recent space missions such as CHAMP and Ørsted have significantly advanced our understanding of planetary magnetism. Data interpretation and global field modelling based on single-spacecraft magnetic measurements, however, are generically limited by their spatiotemporal ambiguity. The forthcoming three-spacecraft ESA mission Swarm will be able to address this problem and thus provide a better separation of internal and external contributions to the Earth’s magnetic field. To tap the full potential of Swarm’s multi-point nature and also its combination of scientific instruments, we plan to tailor a data analysis toolkit to the specifics of the mission. The project described in this proposal will build on the efforts made in the context of ESA’s multi-spacecraft mission Cluster. We will focus on the identification of auroral processes and current systems by in-situ measurements of the pair of Swarm satellites on the lower orbit of the constellation. Of particular importance in this context are field-aligned currents at high latitudes. New techniques will be developed and combined with existing methods into a unified framework to identify spatially localized and possibly also time-varying contributions to magnetic field data. The analysis tools developed in the context of our project serve a dual purpose. First, they are expected to support other groups in the SPP 1488 in their efforts to model the planetary magnetic field of internal origin. Second, they will be the basis for a longer-term study of plasma processes at the ionospheric ends of auroral flux tubes, with details to be specified in the renewal proposals of this priority program.