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Title: The Global Positioning System constellation as a space weather monitor. Comparison of electron measurements with Van Allen Probes data

Journal Article · · Space Weather
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015SW001339· OSTI ID:1249061
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos New Mexico USA
  3. Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA (United States)
  4. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

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.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1249061
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-16-20043
Journal Information:
Space Weather, Vol. 14, Issue 2; ISSN 1542-7390
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 47 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (6)

Statistics of Extreme Time‐Integrated Geomagnetic Activity journal January 2018
Space Weather Operation at KASI With Van Allen Probes Beacon Signals journal February 2018
The Reprise Special Collection for the 2001 Space Weather Monograph journal April 2018
Earth's Van Allen Radiation Belts: From Discovery to the Van Allen Probes Era journal November 2019
Simulation of Prompt Acceleration of Radiation Belt Electrons During the 16 July 2017 Storm journal July 2019
Impact of Significant Time‐Integrated Geomagnetic Activity on 2‐MeV Electron Flux journal June 2019

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