Journal
EARTH PLANETS AND SPACE
Volume 65, Issue 11, Pages 1309-1317Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.5047/eps.2013.09.008
Keywords
Equatorial ionosphere; electric fields; space magnetometry; Swarm
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Funding
- Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) within the context of the Travaux preparatoires et exploitation de la mission SWARM project
- European Space Agency (ESA) through ESTEC [4000102140/10/NL/JA]
- NSF through Cornell University
- Div Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [0905448] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The day-time eastward equatorial electric field (EEF) in the ionospheric E-region plays a crucial role in equatorial ionospheric dynamics. It is responsible for driving the equatorial electrojet (EEJ) current system, equatorial vertical ion drifts, and the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA). Due to its importance, there is much interest in accurately measuring and modeling the EEF for both climatological and near real-time studies. The Swarm satellite mission offers a unique opportunity to estimate the equatorial electric field from measurements of the geomagnetic field. Due to the near-polar orbits of each satellite, the on-board magnetometers record a full profile in latitude of the ionospheric current signatures at satellite altitude. These latitudinal magnetic profiles are then modeled using a first principles approach with empirical climatological inputs specifying the state of the ionosphere. Since the EEF is the primary driver of the low-latitude ionospheric current system, the observed magnetic measurements can then be inverted for the EEF. This paper details the algorithm for recovering the EEF from Swarm geomagnetic field measurements. The equatorial electric field estimates are an official Swarm level-2 product developed within the Swarm SCARF (Satellite Constellation Application Research Facility). They will be made freely available by ESA after the commissioning phase.
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