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Challenges in Measuring External Currents Driven by the Solar Wind-Magnetosphere InteractionIn studying the Earth's geomagnetism, it has always been a challenge to separate magnetic fields from external currents originating from the ionosphere and magnetosphere. While the internal magnetic field changes very slowly in time scales of years and more, the ionospheric and magnetospheric current systems driven by the solar wind -magnetosphere interaction are very dynamic. They are intimately controlled by the ionospheric electrodynamics and ionospheremagnetosphere coupling. Single spacecraft observations are not able to separate their spatial and temporal variations, and thus to accurately describe their configurations. To characterize and understand the external currents, satellite observations require both good spatial and temporal resolutions. This paper reviews our observations of the external currents from two recent LEO satellite missions: Space Technology 5 (ST-5), NASA's first three-satellite constellation mission in LEO polar orbit, and Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS), an equatorial satellite developed by US Air Force Research Laboratory. We present recommendations for future geomagnetism missions based on these observations.
Document ID
20150007954
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Le, Guan
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Slavin, James A.
(Michigan Univ. Ann Arbor, MI, United States)
Pfaff, Robert F.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
May 12, 2015
Publication Date
February 12, 2014
Publication Information
Publisher: Chinese Geoscience Union
Subject Category
Geophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN17301
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG11PL10A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
WIND-MAGNETOSPHERE
SOLAR WINDS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
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