Abstract
Over time, the initial algorithms to derive atmospheric density from accelerometers have been significantly enhanced. In this study, we discussed one of the accurate accelerometers—the Earth’s Magnetic Field and Environment Explorers, more commonly known as the Swarm satellites. Swarm satellite–C level 2 (measurements from the Swam accelerometers) density, solar index (F10.7), and geomagnetic index (Kp) data have been used for a year (mid 2014–2015), and the different types of temporal (the diurnal, multi–day, solar–rotational, semi–annual, and annual) atmospheric density variations have been investigated using the statistical approaches of correlation coefficient and wavelet transform. The result shows the density varies due to the recurrent geomagnetic force at multi–day, solar irradiance during the day, appearance and disappearance of the Sun’s active region, Sun–Earth distance, large scale circulation, and the formation of an aurora. Additionally, a correlation coefficient was used to observe whether F10.7 or Kp contributes strongly or weakly to annual density, and the result found a strong (medium) correlation with F10.7 (Kp). Accurate density measurement can help to reduce the model’s bias correction, and monitoring the physical mechanisms for the density variations can lead to improvements in the atmospheric density models.
Highlights
Atmospheric density is one of the most significant parameters in the field of satellite orbit determination, solar–terrestrial physics, and their modeling
A processing facility has been operationally developed by Astrodynamics and the Space Missions under the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the TU Delft, the Netherlands that aims to produce the Swarm satellite locational period sequence of thermospheric density and wind
Thermospheric density and wind (TDW) retrieval and precise orbit determination (POD) are the two chains of this processing facility that consists of separate modules
Summary
Atmospheric density is one of the most significant parameters in the field of satellite orbit determination, solar–terrestrial physics, and their modeling. The Swarm mission from the European Space Agency (ESA) is a new dedicated satellite programme for measuring the atmospheric density It provides acceleration measurements from onboard accelerometers. During the period of major geomagnetic storms, the major energy foundation for the thermosphere system is Joule heating and energetic particle precipitation compared to solar irradiance. A processing facility has been operationally developed by Astrodynamics and the Space Missions under the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the TU Delft, the Netherlands that aims to produce the Swarm satellite locational period sequence of thermospheric density and wind.
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