Investigation of Space Weather Effects by Swarm Magnetic Field Data: The SFAC Index

Abstract The three Swarm satellites provide an optimum, low Earth orbit (LEO) and multi‐spacecraft platform, to explore for the first time the local correlation between field‐aligned currents (FACs), auroral electrojets, and magnetic perturbations at the Earth's surface. By combining Swarm and...

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Main Authors: Octav Marghitu, Adrian Blăgău, Vlad Constantinescu, Malcolm W. Dunlop, Guram Kervalishvili, Jan Rauberg, Jesper W. Gjerloev
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-03-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112430
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author Octav Marghitu
Adrian Blăgău
Vlad Constantinescu
Malcolm W. Dunlop
Guram Kervalishvili
Jan Rauberg
Jesper W. Gjerloev
author_facet Octav Marghitu
Adrian Blăgău
Vlad Constantinescu
Malcolm W. Dunlop
Guram Kervalishvili
Jan Rauberg
Jesper W. Gjerloev
author_sort Octav Marghitu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The three Swarm satellites provide an optimum, low Earth orbit (LEO) and multi‐spacecraft platform, to explore for the first time the local correlation between field‐aligned currents (FACs), auroral electrojets, and magnetic perturbations at the Earth's surface. By combining Swarm and ground magnetic field data, one can investigate systematically the full correlation chain, whose final link controls the ground induced currents and related space weather effects. We introduce an integrated FAC product, the Sheet FAC (SFAC) index, as a convenient measure of the in‐situ FAC data, and explore the correlations SFAC‐AE, SFAC‐PEJ and SFAC‐dH, with AE the standard auroral electrojet index, PEJ the local, Swarm based, polar electrojet index, and dH the horizontal magnetic field perturbation at the Earth's surface. Given the good SFAC‐dH correlation, we also suggest an extension of SFAC to higher LEO satellites, which cannot observe any more the electrojet currents, but are fully capable to monitor SFAC.
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language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-671d3bc297874698b8789cb05dd6b6ce2025-08-20T02:27:05ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072025-03-01525n/an/a10.1029/2024GL112430Investigation of Space Weather Effects by Swarm Magnetic Field Data: The SFAC IndexOctav Marghitu0Adrian Blăgău1Vlad Constantinescu2Malcolm W. Dunlop3Guram Kervalishvili4Jan Rauberg5Jesper W. Gjerloev6Institute for Space Sciences Bucharest‐Măgurele RomaniaInstitute for Space Sciences Bucharest‐Măgurele RomaniaInstitute for Space Sciences Bucharest‐Măgurele RomaniaRAL Space STFC Harwell Oxford UKGFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam GermanyGFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam GermanyJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratoy Laurel MD USAAbstract The three Swarm satellites provide an optimum, low Earth orbit (LEO) and multi‐spacecraft platform, to explore for the first time the local correlation between field‐aligned currents (FACs), auroral electrojets, and magnetic perturbations at the Earth's surface. By combining Swarm and ground magnetic field data, one can investigate systematically the full correlation chain, whose final link controls the ground induced currents and related space weather effects. We introduce an integrated FAC product, the Sheet FAC (SFAC) index, as a convenient measure of the in‐situ FAC data, and explore the correlations SFAC‐AE, SFAC‐PEJ and SFAC‐dH, with AE the standard auroral electrojet index, PEJ the local, Swarm based, polar electrojet index, and dH the horizontal magnetic field perturbation at the Earth's surface. Given the good SFAC‐dH correlation, we also suggest an extension of SFAC to higher LEO satellites, which cannot observe any more the electrojet currents, but are fully capable to monitor SFAC.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112430fielld‐aligned currentelectrojet currentground magnetic perturbationbursty bulk flow and magnetospheric dynamicsspace weatherSwarm mission and low Earth orbit satellites
spellingShingle Octav Marghitu
Adrian Blăgău
Vlad Constantinescu
Malcolm W. Dunlop
Guram Kervalishvili
Jan Rauberg
Jesper W. Gjerloev
Investigation of Space Weather Effects by Swarm Magnetic Field Data: The SFAC Index
Geophysical Research Letters
fielld‐aligned current
electrojet current
ground magnetic perturbation
bursty bulk flow and magnetospheric dynamics
space weather
Swarm mission and low Earth orbit satellites
title Investigation of Space Weather Effects by Swarm Magnetic Field Data: The SFAC Index
title_full Investigation of Space Weather Effects by Swarm Magnetic Field Data: The SFAC Index
title_fullStr Investigation of Space Weather Effects by Swarm Magnetic Field Data: The SFAC Index
title_full_unstemmed Investigation of Space Weather Effects by Swarm Magnetic Field Data: The SFAC Index
title_short Investigation of Space Weather Effects by Swarm Magnetic Field Data: The SFAC Index
title_sort investigation of space weather effects by swarm magnetic field data the sfac index
topic fielld‐aligned current
electrojet current
ground magnetic perturbation
bursty bulk flow and magnetospheric dynamics
space weather
Swarm mission and low Earth orbit satellites
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112430
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