The Global Positioning System constellation as a space weather monitor. Comparison of electron measurements with Van Allen Probes data
Abstract
Energetic electron observations in Earth's radiation belts are typically sparse, and multipoint studies often rely on serendipitous conjunctions. This paper establishes the scientific utility of the Combined X-ray Dosimeter (CXD), currently flown on 19 satellites in the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation, by cross-calibrating energetic electron measurements against data from the Van Allen Probes. By breaking our cross calibration into two parts—one that removes any spectral assumptions from the CXD flux calculation and one that compares the energy spectra—we first validate the modeled instrument response functions, then the calculated electron fluxes. Unlike previous forward modeling of energetic electron spectra, we use a combination of four distributions that together capture a wide range of observed spectral shapes. Moreover, our two-step approach allowed us to identify, and correct for, small systematic offsets between block IIR and IIF satellites. Using the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer and Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope on Van Allen Probes as a “gold standard,” here we demonstrate that the CXD instruments are well understood. A robust statistical analysis shows that CXD and Van Allen Probes fluxes are similar and the measured fluxes from CXD are typically within a factor of 2 of Van Allen Probes at energies inline image4 MeV.more »
- Authors:
-
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos New Mexico USA
- Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1249061
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-16-20043
Journal ID: ISSN 1542-7390
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Space Weather
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 14; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1542-7390
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; 47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
Citation Formats
Morley, Steven K., Sullivan, John P., Henderson, Michael G., Blake, J. Bernard, and Baker, Daniel N. The Global Positioning System constellation as a space weather monitor. Comparison of electron measurements with Van Allen Probes data. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1002/2015SW001339.
Morley, Steven K., Sullivan, John P., Henderson, Michael G., Blake, J. Bernard, & Baker, Daniel N. The Global Positioning System constellation as a space weather monitor. Comparison of electron measurements with Van Allen Probes data. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015SW001339
Morley, Steven K., Sullivan, John P., Henderson, Michael G., Blake, J. Bernard, and Baker, Daniel N. Sat .
"The Global Positioning System constellation as a space weather monitor. Comparison of electron measurements with Van Allen Probes data". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015SW001339. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1249061.
@article{osti_1249061,
title = {The Global Positioning System constellation as a space weather monitor. Comparison of electron measurements with Van Allen Probes data},
author = {Morley, Steven K. and Sullivan, John P. and Henderson, Michael G. and Blake, J. Bernard and Baker, Daniel N.},
abstractNote = {Energetic electron observations in Earth's radiation belts are typically sparse, and multipoint studies often rely on serendipitous conjunctions. This paper establishes the scientific utility of the Combined X-ray Dosimeter (CXD), currently flown on 19 satellites in the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation, by cross-calibrating energetic electron measurements against data from the Van Allen Probes. By breaking our cross calibration into two parts—one that removes any spectral assumptions from the CXD flux calculation and one that compares the energy spectra—we first validate the modeled instrument response functions, then the calculated electron fluxes. Unlike previous forward modeling of energetic electron spectra, we use a combination of four distributions that together capture a wide range of observed spectral shapes. Moreover, our two-step approach allowed us to identify, and correct for, small systematic offsets between block IIR and IIF satellites. Using the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer and Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope on Van Allen Probes as a “gold standard,” here we demonstrate that the CXD instruments are well understood. A robust statistical analysis shows that CXD and Van Allen Probes fluxes are similar and the measured fluxes from CXD are typically within a factor of 2 of Van Allen Probes at energies inline image4 MeV. Our team present data from 17 CXD-equipped GPS satellites covering the 2015 “St. Patrick's Day” geomagnetic storm to illustrate the scientific applications of such a high data density satellite constellation and therefore demonstrate that the GPS constellation is positioned to enable new insights in inner magnetospheric physics and space weather forecasting.},
doi = {10.1002/2015SW001339},
journal = {Space Weather},
number = 2,
volume = 14,
place = {United States},
year = {2016},
month = {2}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 42 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
ROOT — A C++ framework for petabyte data storage, statistical analysis and visualization
journal, December 2009
- Antcheva, I.; Ballintijn, M.; Bellenot, B.
- Computer Physics Communications, Vol. 180, Issue 12
The occurrence of operational anomalies in spacecraft and their relationship to space weather
journal, January 2000
- Baker, D. N.
- IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 28, Issue 6
The Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope (REPT) Instrument on Board the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Spacecraft: Characterization of Earth’s Radiation Belt High-Energy Particle Populations
journal, December 2012
- Baker, D. N.; Kanekal, S. G.; Hoxie, V. C.
- Space Science Reviews, Vol. 179, Issue 1-4
High- Z energetic particles at geosynchronous orbit during the Great Solar Proton Event Series of October 1989
journal, January 1992
- Belian, R. D.; Gisler, G. R.; Cayton, T.
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 97, Issue A11
CEPPAD: Comprehensive energetic particle and pitch angle distribution experiment on POLAR
journal, February 1995
- Blake, J. B.; Fennell, J. F.; Friesen, L. M.
- Space Science Reviews, Vol. 71, Issue 1-4
The Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) Instruments Aboard the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Spacecraft
journal, June 2013
- Blake, J. B.; Carranza, P. A.; Claudepierre, S. G.
- Space Science Reviews, Vol. 179, Issue 1-4
Magnetospheric dynamics and mass flow during the November 1993 storm
journal, November 1998
- Borovsky, Joseph E.; Thomsen, Michelle F.; McComas, David J.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 103, Issue A11
Radiation belt representation of the energetic electron environment: Model and data synthesis using the Salammbô radiation belt transport code and Los Alamos geosynchronous and GPS energetic particle data: DATA ASSIMILATION WITH THE SALAMMBÔ CODE
journal, April 2005
- Bourdarie, S.; Friedel, R. H. W.; Fennell, J.
- Space Weather, Vol. 3, Issue 4
Improved electron fluxes from the synchronous orbit particle analyzer: SYNCHRONOUS ORBIT PARTICLE ANALYZER
journal, November 2005
- Cayton, T. E.; Tuszewski, M.
- Space Weather, Vol. 3, Issue 11
Energetic electron components at geosynchronous orbit
journal, February 1989
- Cayton, T. E.; Belian, R. D.; Gary, S. P.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 16, Issue 2
Dynamics of the high-latitude ionospheric irregularities during the 17 March 2015 St. Patrick's Day storm: Ground-based GPS measurements: DYNAMICS OF THE IRREGULARITIES BY GPS
journal, September 2015
- Cherniak, Iurii; Zakharenkova, Irina; Redmon, Robert J.
- Space Weather, Vol. 13, Issue 9
A background correction algorithm for Van Allen Probes MagEIS electron flux measurements: MAGEIS BACKGROUND CORRECTION ALGORITHM
journal, July 2015
- Claudepierre, S. G.; O'Brien, T. P.; Blake, J. B.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 120, Issue 7
Density and temperature of energetic electrons in the Earth's magnetotail derived from high-latitude GPS observations during the declining phase of the solar cycle
journal, January 2011
- Denton, M. H.; Cayton, T. E.
- Annales Geophysicae, Vol. 29, Issue 10
Experimental evaluation of the BDD-I dosimeter for the Global Positioning System
journal, September 1993
- Drake, D. M.; Cayton, T. E.; Higbie, P. R.
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 333, Issue 2-3
Centered and eccentric geomagnetic dipoles and their poles, 1600–1985
journal, January 1987
- Fraser-Smith, A. C.
- Reviews of Geophysics, Vol. 25, Issue 1
Intercalibration of magnetospheric energetic electron data: ENERGETIC ELECTRON INTERCALIBRATION
journal, September 2005
- Friedel, R. H. W.; Bourdarie, S.; Cayton, T. E.
- Space Weather, Vol. 3, Issue 9
Locations of boundaries of outer and inner radiation belts as observed by Cluster and Double Star: BOUNDARIES OF RADIATION BELTS
journal, September 2011
- Ganushkina, N. Yu; Dandouras, I.; Shprits, Y. Y.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 116, Issue A9
AE9, AP9 and SPM: New Models for Specifying the Trapped Energetic Particle and Space Plasma Environment
journal, March 2013
- Ginet, G. P.; O’Brien, T. P.; Huston, S. L.
- Space Science Reviews, Vol. 179, Issue 1-4
L parameter, A new approximation
journal, October 1971
- Hilton, Henry H.
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 76, Issue 28
Space Weather Concerns for All-Electric Propulsion Satellites: ALL-ELECTRIC PROPULSION
journal, August 2015
- Horne, Richard B.; Pitchford, David
- Space Weather, Vol. 13, Issue 8
Multi-satellite characterization of the large energetic electron flux increase at L=4–7, in the five-day period following the March 24, 1991, solar energetic particle event
conference, January 1996
- Ingraham, J. C.; Cayton, T. E.; Belian, R. D.
- Workshop on the Earth’s trapped particle environment, AIP Conference Proceedings
Minuit - a system for function minimization and analysis of the parameter errors and correlations
journal, December 1975
- James, F.; Roos, M.
- Computer Physics Communications, Vol. 10, Issue 6
Three-dimensional data assimilation and reanalysis of radiation belt electrons: Observations of a four-zone structure using five spacecraft and the VERB code
journal, November 2014
- Kellerman, A. C.; Shprits, Y. Y.; Kondrashov, D.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 119, Issue 11
Identifying the radiation belt source region by data assimilation: RADIATION BELT DATA ASSIMILATION
journal, June 2007
- Koller, J.; Chen, Y.; Reeves, G. D.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 112, Issue A6
Rapid enchancements of relativistic electrons deep in the magnetosphere during the May 15, 1997, magnetic storm
journal, March 1999
- Li, Xinlin; Baker, D. N.; Teremin, M.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 104, Issue A3
Energetic electrons, 50 keV to 6 MeV, at geosynchronous orbit: Their responses to solar wind variations: ENERGETIC ELECTRONS AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT
journal, April 2005
- Li, Xinlin; Baker, D. N.; Temerin, M.
- Space Weather, Vol. 3, Issue 4
Space weather radiation effects on geostationary satellite solid-state power amplifiers: SPACE WEATHER EFFECTS ON GEO SATELLITES
journal, August 2013
- Lohmeyer, W. Q.; Cahoy, K.
- Space Weather, Vol. 11, Issue 8
Data assimilation of LANL satellite data into the Salammbô electron code over a complete solar cycle by direct insertion: RADIATION BELTS REANALYSIS
journal, October 2007
- Maget, V.; Bourdarie, S.; Boscher, D.
- Space Weather, Vol. 5, Issue 10
Science Objectives and Rationale for the Radiation Belt Storm Probes Mission
journal, September 2012
- Mauk, B. H.; Fox, N. J.; Kanekal, S. G.
- Space Science Reviews, Vol. 179, Issue 1-4
Multisatellite comparisons of the radiation belt response to the Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) magnetic storms
journal, June 2001
- McAdams, K. L.; Reeves, G. D.; Friedel, R. H. W.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 106, Issue A6
Coordinates for mapping the distribution of magnetically trapped particles
journal, November 1961
- McIlwain, Carl E.
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 66, Issue 11
Observation of relativistic electron precipitation during a rapid decrease of trapped relativistic electron flux
journal, January 2007
- Millan, R. M.; Lin, R. P.; Smith, D. M.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 34, Issue 10
A rapid, global and prolonged electron radiation belt dropout observed with the Global Positioning System constellation: FAST RADIATION BELT LOSSES
journal, March 2010
- Morley, S. K.; Friedel, R. H. W.; Cayton, T. E.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 37, Issue 6
Dropouts of the outer electron radiation belt in response to solar wind stream interfaces: global positioning system observations
journal, May 2010
- Morley, Steven K.; Friedel, Reiner H. W.; Spanswick, Emma L.
- Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 466, Issue 2123
Phase Space Density matching of relativistic electrons using the Van Allen Probes: REPT results
journal, September 2013
- Morley, S. K.; Henderson, M. G.; Reeves, G. D.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 40, Issue 18
On the use of drift echoes to characterize on-orbit sensor discrepancies
journal, March 2015
- O'Brien, T. P.; Claudepierre, S. G.; Looper, M. D.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 120, Issue 3
Dynamic Radiation Environment Assimilation Model: DREAM: DYNAMIC RADIATION ENVIRONMENT ASSIMILATION MODEL
journal, March 2012
- Reeves, G. D.; Chen, Y.; Cunningham, G. S.
- Space Weather, Vol. 10, Issue 3
Electron Acceleration in the Heart of the Van Allen Radiation Belts
journal, July 2013
- Reeves, G. D.; Spence, H. E.; Henderson, M. G.
- Science, Vol. 341, Issue 6149
Influence of the Precipitating Energetic Particles on Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate
journal, May 2012
- Rozanov, E.; Calisto, M.; Egorova, T.
- Surveys in Geophysics, Vol. 33, Issue 3-4
Estimates of the Regression Coefficient Based on Kendall's Tau
journal, December 1968
- Sen, Pranab Kumar
- Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 63, Issue 324
A new functional form to study the solar wind control of the magnetopause size and shape
journal, May 1997
- Shue, J. -H.; Chao, J. K.; Fu, H. C.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 102, Issue A5
Science Goals and Overview of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma (ECT) Suite on NASA’s Van Allen Probes Mission
journal, October 2013
- Spence, H. E.; Reeves, G. D.; Baker, D. N.
- Space Science Reviews, Vol. 179, Issue 1-4
Multisatellite measurements of electron phase space density gradients in the Earth's inner and outer magnetosphere
journal, January 2004
- Taylor, M. G. G. T.
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 109, Issue A5
A magnetospheric magnetic field model with a warped tail current sheet
journal, January 1989
- Tsyganenko, N. A.
- Planetary and Space Science, Vol. 37, Issue 1
On the cause and extent of outer radiation belt losses during the 30 September 2012 dropout event: Effective ranges of outer belt dropouts
journal, March 2014
- Turner, D. L.; Angelopoulos, V.; Morley, S. K.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 119, Issue 3
Impact of different energies of precipitating particles on NOx generation in the middle and upper atmosphere during geomagnetic storms
journal, July 2009
- Turunen, Esa; Verronen, Pekka T.; Seppälä, Annika
- Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Vol. 71, Issue 10-11
Bremsstrahlung effects in energetic particle detectors: BREMSSTRAHLUNG EFFECTS
journal, October 2004
- Tuszewski, M.; Cayton, T. E.; Ingraham, J. C.
- Space Weather, Vol. 2, Issue 10
CRRES magnetic electron spectrometer AFGL-701-5A (MEA)
journal, July 1992
- Vampola, A. L.; Osborn, J. V.; Johnson, B. M.
- Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 29, Issue 4
Structure of Earth's outer radiation belt inferred from long-term electron flux dynamics
journal, January 2003
- Vassiliadis, D.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 30, Issue 19
The long-term effects of space weather on satellite operations
journal, January 2010
- Welling, D. T.
- Annales Geophysicae, Vol. 28, Issue 6
How many discoveries have been lost by ignoring modern statistical methods?
journal, January 1998
- Wilcox, Rand R.
- American Psychologist, Vol. 53, Issue 3
Quantifying the effect of magnetopause shadowing on electron radiation belt dropouts
journal, January 2013
- Yu, Y.; Koller, J.; Morley, S. K.
- Annales Geophysicae, Vol. 31, Issue 11
Works referencing / citing this record:
Statistics of Extreme Time‐Integrated Geomagnetic Activity
journal, January 2018
- Mourenas, D.; Artemyev, A. V.; Zhang, X. ‐J.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 45, Issue 2
Electron Flux Dropouts at L ∼ 4.2 From Global Positioning System Satellites: Occurrences, Magnitudes, and Main Driving Factors: DROPOUTS ON GPS ORBIT
journal, November 2017
- Boynton, R. J.; Mourenas, D.; Balikhin, M. A.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 122, Issue 11
Space Weather Operation at KASI With Van Allen Probes Beacon Signals
journal, February 2018
- Lee, Jongkil; Kim, Kyung-Chan; Giuseppe, Romeo
- Space Weather, Vol. 16, Issue 2
The Reprise Special Collection for the 2001 Space Weather Monograph
journal, April 2018
- Knipp, Delores J.
- Space Weather, Vol. 16, Issue 4
Simulation of Prompt Acceleration of Radiation Belt Electrons During the 16 July 2017 Storm
journal, July 2019
- Patel, Maulik; Li, Zhao; Hudson, Mary
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 13
Impact of Significant Time‐Integrated Geomagnetic Activity on 2‐MeV Electron Flux
journal, June 2019
- Mourenas, D.; Artemyev, A. V.; Zhang, X. ‐J.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 124, Issue 6