Solar Wind-Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Interactions During Passage at Earth of Interplanetary CMEs

In a series of case studies we investigate the ionospheric convection response to enhanced magnetopause reconnection rate driven by interplanetary (IP) CMEs. In this response we distinguish between two stages of evolution, i.e., an initial transient phase, and a persistent phase, and different convection regimes in different sectors of the polar cap (center versus periphery). Plasma convection in these two regimes may have different boundary layer sources, i.e., the high-latitude boundary layer (HBL) versus the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL). The temporal evolution of flows in the center and periphery of the PC is monitored by the ground magnetic signatures in the form of the PCN - index and magnetograms from the IMAGE chain of magnetometers in Svalbard - Scandinavia - Finland, respectively. In order to determine the temporal structure of the boundary flow channels we study during steady IP conditions and a south-west (By LLBL (V) + kPCN(mV/m)LPC (km). k is an empirical constant which is conductivity (season) - dependent and LPC (km) is the cross-polar cap distance. We find that the persistent phase of solar wind - magnetosphere coupling (steady, strong IP driving) is characterized by a repetitive substorm activity and associated convection enhancements in the contracting (ΔLPC < 0) phases of the polar cap oscillations

Results from the intercalibration of optical low light calibration sources 2011

Following the 38th Annual European Meeting on Atmospheric Studies by Optical Methods in Siuntio in Finland, an intercalibration workshop for optical low light calibration sources was held in Sodankylä, Finland. The main purpose of this workshop was to provide a comparable scale for absolute measurements of aurora and airglow. All sources brought to the intercalibration workshop were compared to the Fritz Peak reference source using the Lindau Calibration Photometer built by Wilhelm Barke and Hans Lauche in 1984. The results were compared to several earlier intercalibration workshops. It was found that most sources were fairly stable over time, with errors in the range of 5–25%. To further validate the results, two sources were also intercalibrated at UNIS, Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Preliminary analysis indicates agreement with the intercalibration in Sodankylä within about 15–25%.publishedVersio

Overview of the 2015 St. Patrick’s day storm and its consequences for RTK and PPP positioning in Norway

The 2015 St. Patrick’s day storm was the first storm of solar cycle 24 to reach a level of “Severe” on the NOAA geomagnetic storm scale. The Norwegian Mapping Authority is operating a national real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning network and has in recent years developed software and services and deployed instrumentation to monitor space weather disturbances. Here, we report on our observations during this event. Strong GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) disturbances, measured by the rate-of-TEC index (ROTI), were observed at all latitudes in Norway on March 17th and early on March 18th. Late on the 18th, strong disturbances were only observed in northern parts of Norway. We study the ionospheric disturbances in relation to the auroral electrojet currents, showing that the most intense disturbances of GNSS signals occur on the poleward side of poleward-moving current regions. This indicates a possible connection to ionospheric polar cap plasma patches and/or particle precipitation caused by magnetic reconnection in the magnetosphere tail. We also study the impact of the disturbances on the network RTK and Precise Point Positioning (PPP) techniques. The vertical position errors increase rapidly with increasing ROTI for both techniques, but PPP is more precise than RTK at all disturbance levels

Overview of the 2015 St. Patrick’s day storm and its consequences for RTK and PPP positioning in Norway

The 2015 St. Patrick’s day storm was the first storm of solar cycle 24 to reach a level of “Severe” on the NOAA geomagnetic storm scale. The Norwegian Mapping Authority is operating a national real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning network and has in recent years developed software and services and deployed instrumentation to monitor space weather disturbances. Here, we report on our observations during this event. Strong GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) disturbances, measured by the rate-of-TEC index (ROTI), were observed at all latitudes in Norway on March 17th and early on March 18th. Late on the 18th, strong disturbances were only observed in northern parts of Norway. We study the ionospheric disturbances in relation to the auroral electrojet currents, showing that the most intense disturbances of GNSS signals occur on the poleward side of poleward-moving current regions. This indicates a possible connection to ionospheric polar cap plasma patches and/or particle precipitation caused by magnetic reconnection in the magnetosphere tail. We also study the impact of the disturbances on the network RTK and Precise Point Positioning (PPP) techniques. The vertical position errors increase rapidly with increasing ROTI for both techniques, but PPP is more precise than RTK at all disturbance levels

Overview of the 2015 St. Patrick’s day storm and its consequences for RTK and PPP positioning in Norway

The 2015 St. Patrick’s day storm was the first storm of solar cycle 24 to reach a level of “Severe” on the NOAA geomagnetic storm scale. The Norwegian Mapping Authority is operating a national real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning network and has in recent years developed software and services and deployed instrumentation to monitor space weather disturbances. Here, we report on our observations during this event. Strong GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) disturbances, measured by the rate-of-TEC index (ROTI), were observed at all latitudes in Norway on March 17th and early on March 18th. Late on the 18th, strong disturbances were only observed in northern parts of Norway. We study the ionospheric disturbances in relation to the auroral electrojet currents, showing that the most intense disturbances of GNSS signals occur on the poleward side of poleward-moving current regions. This indicates a possible connection to ionospheric polar cap plasma patches and/or particle precipitation caused by magnetic reconnection in the magnetosphere tail. We also study the impact of the disturbances on the network RTK and Precise Point Positioning (PPP) techniques. The vertical position errors increase rapidly with increasing ROTI for both techniques, but PPP is more precise than RTK at all disturbance levels

GNSS positioning error forecasting in the Arctic: ROTI and Precise Point Positioning error forecasting from solar wind measurements

A model forecasting ionospheric disturbances and its impact on GNSS positioning is proposed, called HAPEE (High lAtitude disturbances Positioning Error Estimator). It allows predicting ROTI index and corresponding Precise Point Positioning (PPP) error in Arctic region (i.e. latitudes > 50°). The model is forecasting for the next hour a probability of a disturbance index or PPP error to exceed a given threshold, from solar wind conditions measured at L1 Lagrange point. Or alternatively, it is forecasting a disturbance index level that is exceeded during the next hour for a given percentage of the time. The ROTI model has been derived from NMA network measurements, considering a database covering the years 2007 up to 2019. It is demonstrated that the statistical variability of the ROTI index is mainly following a lognormal distribution. The proposed model has been tested favorably on measurements performed using measurements from stations of the NMA network that were not used for the model derivation. It is also shown that the statistics of PPP error conditioned by ROTI is following a Laplace distribution. Then a new compound model has been proposed, based on a conditional probability combining ROTI distribution conditioned by solar wind conditions and error distributions conditioned by ROTI index level

Results from the intercalibration of optical low-light calibration sources 2011

Following the 38th Annual European Meeting on Atmospheric Studies by Optical Methods in Siuntio in Finland, an intercalibration workshop for optical low light calibration sources was held in Sodankyla, Finland. The main ¨ purpose of this workshop was to provide a comparable scale for absolute measurements of aurora and airglow. All sources brought to the intercalibration workshop were compared to the Fritz Peak reference source using the Lindau Calibration Photometer built by Wilhelm Barke and Hans Lauche in 1984. The results were compared to several earlier intercalibration workshops. It was found that most sources were fairly stable over time, with errors in the range of 5–25 %. To further validate the results, two sources were also intercalibrated at UNIS, Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Preliminary analysis indicates agreement with the intercalibration in Sodankyla within ¨ about 15–25 %

Results from the intercalibration of optical low-light calibration sources 2011

Abstract. Following the 38th Annual Meeting on Atmospheric studies by Optical methods at Siuntio in Finland, an intercalibration workshop for optical low-light calibration sources was held in Sodankylä, Finland. The main purpose of this workshop was to provide a comparable scale for absolute measurements of aurora and airglow. All sources brought to the intercalibration workshop were compared to an international standard source (Fritz-Peak) using the Lindau Calibration Photometer built by Wilhelm Barke and Hans Lauche in 1984. The international standard source is on loan from Michael Gadsden, Aberdeen. The results were compared to several earlier intercalibration workshops. It was found that most sources were fairly stable over time with errors in the range of 5–20%. To further validate the results, two sources were also intercalibrated at UNIS, Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Preliminary analysis indicate good agreement with the intercalibration in Sodankylä