Author Topic: ESA - Swarm updates  (Read 23249 times)

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Swarm updates
« Reply #20 on: 02/22/2018 06:28 pm »
https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Swarm/Swarm_trio_becomes_a_quartet

Swarm trio becomes a quartet

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With the aim of making the best possible use of existing satellites, ESA and Canada have made a deal that turns Swarm into a four-satellite mission to shed even more light on space weather and features such as the aurora borealis.

In orbit since 2013, ESA’s three identical Swarm satellites have been returning a wealth of information about how our magnetic field is generated and how it protects us from dangerous electrically charged atomic particles in the solar wind.

Canada’s Cassiope satellite carries three instrument packages, one of which is e-POP.  It delivers information on space weather which complements that provided by Swarm. Therefore, the mission teams began looking into how they could work together to make the most of the two missions.

To make life easier, it also just so happens that Cassiope’s orbit is ideal to improve Swarm’s readings.

And now, thanks to this international cooperation and formalised through ESA’s Third Party Mission programme, e-POP has effectively become a fourth element of the Swarm mission. It joins Swarm’s Alpha, Bravo and Charlie satellites as Echo.

Image credit: Canadian Space Agency, 2018

Online eeergo

-DaviD-

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Swarm updates
« Reply #22 on: 02/12/2019 03:08 pm »
Magnetic north on the move

Driven largely by the churning of fluid in Earth’s core, which generates the magnetic field, the magnetic north pole has always drifted. Around 50 years ago, the pole was ambling along at around 15 km a year, but now it is charging ahead at around 55 km a year, leaving the Canadian Arctic heading towards Siberia.

Related article: Swarm helps pinpoint new magnetic north for smartphones

https://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2019/02/Magnetic_north_on_the_move

Image credit: DTU Space

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Swarm updates
« Reply #23 on: 05/05/2019 08:55 am »
Simulation of the magnetic field in Earth’s core

Earth’s core as modelled in the numerical geodynamo simulation as part of research into geomagnetic jerks and rapid hydromagnetic waves published as the cover story in Nature Geosciences, May 2018. The magnetic field lines (orange) are stretched, twisted and folded by the turbulent convection producing shear of electrically conducting fluid (red and blue). Hydromagnetic waves are triggered when the shear is misaligned with field lines, and propagate along these lines to the surface of the core where they can focus and cause geomagnetic jerks.

Related article: Swarm helps explain Earth's magnetic jerks

https://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2019/05/Simulation_of_the_magnetic_field_in_Earth_s_core

Image credit: Julien Aubert, IPGP/CNRS/CNRS Photothèque

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Swarm updates
« Reply #24 on: 05/15/2019 07:13 pm »
https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Swarm/Tug-of-war_drives_magnetic_north_sprint

Tug-of-war drives magnetic north sprint

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Unlike our geographic North Pole, which is in a fixed location, magnetic north wanders. This has been known since it was first measured in 1831, and subsequently mapped drifting slowly from the Canadian Arctic towards Siberia.

One of the practical consequences of this is that the World Magnetic Model has to be updated periodically with the pole’s current location. The model is vital for many navigation systems used by ships, Google maps and smartphones, for example.

One of the many areas of research using information from Swarm focuses on explaining why the pole has picked up such a pace – and a subject being discussed at this week’s Living Planet Symposium.
 
Between 1990 and 2005 magnetic north accelerated from its historic speed of 0–15 km a year, to its present speed of 50–60 km a year. In late October 2017, it crossed the international date line, passing within 390 km of the geographic pole, and is now heading south.

In fact, recently, the World Magnetic Model had to be updated urgently because of the speed at which the pole is moving.

ESA’s Swarm mission is not only being used to keep track of magnetic north, but scientists are using its data to measure and untangle the different magnetic fields that stem from Earth’s core, mantle, crust, oceans, ionosphere and magnetosphere.

Our magnetic field exists because of an ocean of superheated, swirling liquid iron that makes up the outer core. Like a spinning conductor in a bicycle dynamo, this moving iron creates electrical currents, which in turn generate our continuously changing magnetic field.

Tracking changes in the magnetic field can, therefore, tell researchers how the iron in the core moves.

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Research is showing that changes in the pattern of core flow between 1970 and 1999 elongated the Canadian lobe, significantly weakening its signature on Earth's surface, causing the pole to accelerate towards Siberia.

Simple models taking account of this process and describing future geomagnetic change predict that over the next decade the north magnetic pole will continue on its current trajectory and will travel a further 390–660 km towards Siberia.


Offline jacqmans

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Re: ESA - Swarm updates
« Reply #25 on: 07/09/2021 02:16 pm »
Swarm yields new insight into animal migration
09/07/2021

Using measurements from ESA’s Earth Explorer Swarm mission, scientists have developed a new tool that links the strength and direction of the magnetic field to the flight paths of migrating birds. This is a huge step forward to understanding how animals use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate vast distances.

These days, it is almost unimaginable for us to set off on a long journey without being equipped with some form of satellite navigation, or at least a map. Migratory animals, however, manage to cross entire oceans and continents, navigating with exceptional skills of their own. In spite of decades of research, we still do not understand fully how these remarkable animals are able to find their way – although it has been suspected that Earth’s magnetic field lines are among the cues that guide them.

Recent advances in GPS and the miniaturisation of tracking devices have allowed ecologists to tag migratory animals, from birds to whales, to understand how they travel from A to B. However, while animal tracking data are now common, little investigation has been made into how animals respond to real geomagnetic conditions, since the magnetic field changes continuously across the globe, particularly during geomagnetic storms.

Until recently, there was no way to assess accurately the strength of the magnetic field at the time and location that animals pass by, which would allow ecologists to study how they use this natural force for navigation.

However, a new tool allows ecologists, for the first time, to compute the strength and direction of the magnetic field along animal migratory paths.

https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Swarm/Swarm_yields_new_insight_into_animal_migration
Jacques :-)

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Swarm updates
« Reply #26 on: 07/14/2022 06:37 pm »
https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/1547562942672936965

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What’s worse than dealing with deadly #SpaceDebris and violent #SpaceWeather?

Dealing with both at the same time!

@esa_swarm has dodged a potential collision at short notice, right in the middle of its 10-week climb to escape the Sun’s wrath:

https://esa.int/Space_Safety/Swarm_dodges_collision_during_climb_to_escape_Sun_s_wrath

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Swarm updates
« Reply #27 on: 10/10/2022 07:45 pm »
Again  :o

https://twitter.com/esa_swarm/status/1579381331884404736

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"Collision avoided! 💥 In the wee small hours this morning Swarm-Alpha was moved out of harm's way - space debris in the form of a rocket body 🚀 that has been threatening our inner duo  🫣  Thanks to the hard work of the @esaoperations Space Debris Office for guiding us clear!

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Swarm updates
« Reply #28 on: 11/07/2022 04:51 pm »
https://twitter.com/esa_swarm/status/1589565513541517312

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Collision avoided! 💥 No fireworks for Swarm Charlie this weekend thanks to the timely work of the space debris office, flight dynamics team & more @esaoperations, who swerved us out of the way of a small spacecraft early on Sunday morning 🚀 It’s busy up there!

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It's getting busier. This is the 6th time we’ve had to move one of the Swarm satellites out of harm’s way this year, and the 22nd time we’ve had to call in a collision avoidance manoeuvre operation 🫣 That’s compared to 13 in the whole of 2021.
« Last Edit: 11/07/2022 04:53 pm by bolun »

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