Coordination of the in situ payload of Solar Orbiter

Solar Orbiter’s in situ coordination working group met frequently during the development of the mission with the goal of ensuring that its in situ payload has the necessary level of coordination to maximise science return. Here we present the results of that work, namely how the design of each of the in situ instruments (EPD, MAG, RPW, SWA) was guided by the need for coordination, the importance of time synchronisation, and how science operations will be conducted in a coordinated way. We discuss the mechanisms by which instrument sampling schemes are aligned such that complementary measurements will be made simultaneously by different instruments, and how burst modes are scheduled to allow a maximum overlap of burst intervals between the four instruments (telemetry constraints mean different instruments can spend different amounts of time in burst mode). We also explain how onboard autonomy, inter-instrument communication, and selective data downlink will be used to maximise the number of transient events that will be studied using high-resolution modes of all the instruments. Finally, we briefly address coordination between Solar Orbiter’s in situ payload and other missions

Understanding the origins of the heliosphere: Integrating observations and measurements from Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter and Other space and ground based observatories

Context. The launch of Parker Solar Probe (PSP) in 2018, followed by Solar Orbiter (SO) in February 2020, has opened a new window in the exploration of solar magnetic activity and the origin of the heliosphere. These missions, together with other space observatories dedicated to solar observations, such as the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), Hinode, IRIS, STEREO, and SOHO, with complementary in situ observations from WIND and ACE, and ground based multi-wavelength observations including the DKIST observatory that has just seen first light, promise to revolutionize our understanding of the solar atmosphere and of solar activity, from the generation and emergence of the Sun’s magnetic field to the creation of the solar wind and the acceleration of solar energetic particles. / Aims. Here we describe the scientific objectives of the PSP and SO missions, and highlight the potential for discovery arising from synergistic observations. Here we put particular emphasis on how the combined remote sensing and in situ observations of SO, that bracket the outer coronal and inner heliospheric observations by PSP, may provide a reconstruction of the solar wind and magnetic field expansion from the Sun out to beyond the orbit of Mercury in the first phases of the mission. In the later, out-of-ecliptic portions of the SO mission, the solar surface magnetic field measurements from SO and the multi-point white-light observations from both PSP and SO will shed light on the dynamic, intermittent solar wind escaping from helmet streamers, pseudo-streamers, and the confined coronal plasma, and on solar energetic particle transport. / Methods. Joint measurements during PSP– SO alignments, and magnetic connections along the same flux tube complemented by alignments with Earth, dual PSP–Earth, and SO-Earth, as well as with STEREO-A, SOHO, and BepiColumbo will allow a better understanding of the in situ evolution of solar-wind plasma flows and the full three-dimensional distribution of the solar wind from a purely observational point of view. Spectroscopic observations of the corona, and optical and radio observations, combined with direct in situ observations of the accelerating solar wind will provide a new foundation for understanding the fundamental physical processes leading to the energy transformations from solar photospheric flows and magnetic fields into the hot coronal plasma and magnetic fields and finally into the bulk kinetic energy of the solar wind and solar energetic particles. / Results. We discuss the initial PSP observations, which already provide a compelling rationale for new measurement campaigns by SO, along with ground- and space-based assets within the synergistic context described above

The effect of flood disaster on construction sector’s GDP growth in Malaysia

Flood disasters have incurred remarkable costs to humans and the economy. Floods affect not only the local but also the national and world economies. However, the impact of floods on the construction sector’s GDP growth in Malaysia is not known. The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the effects of flood disaster on the construction sector’s GDP growth in Malaysia using time series data for the period 1960–2013. In addition, the chapter also explores the existence of short-run and long-run relationships between the construction sector’s GDP growth and flood variables in the case of Malaysia. To achieve the objectives, the study employed the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method and the error correction model (ECM) in examining the long-run and the short-run relationships, respectively. In addition, the augmented Dickey–Fuller, Phillips–Perron and Kwiatkowski–Phillips–Schmidt–Shin unit root tests were used to examine the stationarity of the series. The results show that flood size and flood damage influence the construction sector’s GDP growth the most in the short and long run, respectively. Several policy implications arise from the results. First, there is a need to develop a new method of construction so that the infrastructures and buildings are durable, as flood disasters cannot be prevented. Well-developed infrastructures and buildings are able to prevent massive damages in the long run. Furthermore, the construction sector should prepare sufficient stock of items such as basic metals to prevent temporary setback in the short run