Calibration and Validation
China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES) has been launched successfully on Feb. 2, 2018 in a sunsynchronous polar orbit at an altitude around 507 km, measuring the electromagnetic field, the energetic particles and the ionospheric plasma parameters. At present ESA’s Swarm mission is the only in-orbit satellite which has payloads comparable with CSES, allowing a direct cross-validation between the two platforms. The Swarm mission was launched on 22 Nov 2013, with three spacecraft at altitudes from 460 to 530 km. For CSES and Swarm, the comparable payloads include: CSES high precision magnetometer (HPM, for the total magnetic field observations), search-coil magnetometer (for the magnetic field variations) and the Langmuir probe (LAP, for in-situ plasma parameters); Swarm VFM and ASM the magnetic field), EFI (in-situ plasma). The two missions will operate in parallel in the next years, providing a good opportunity for cross-calibration and validation on similar types of payloads at same time intervals. The cooperation is aimed to take full advantages of the simultaneous observations of CSES and Swarm satellite in order to calibrate and validate the geomagnetic field and plasma parameters, to improve electromagnetism satellite data processing methods. Besides data validation, both sides share and exchange data and other related resources in order to achieve high-level scientific applications. Additionally, the cooperation will build a long-term stable international team able to drive and train young scientists for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites data processing and analysis in the frame of geophysical observations, such as ionospheric electromagnetic field and gravity field. Such activity is expected to extend to the Chinese future missions, e.g., CSES-2, Zhangheng 02 gravity satellites. The validation of the magnetic field will be done through the direct comparison between the residual fields of CSES and Swarm during similar geomagnetic conditions. This technique will be done for each orbit and, from a statistical point of view, for the entire CSES/Swarm dataset. Concerning the plasma data, the validation will be realized via the direct comparison of the different plasma parameters (i.e. density, temperature, floating potential, and so on), after the calibration of the I-V curve fitting algorithms. From the scientific point of view, the use of both CSES and Swarm data will allow to study the possible Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere (LAIC) effects at the satellite orbits on the occasion of significant earthquakes, the FACs dynamics, the ULF wave property and generation mechanisms, the solar activity and seasonal dependences of plasma density and temperature, and the magnetic perturbations in ionosphere. The deliverables include the comprehensive validation results of the magnetic field and plasma data of CSES and Swarm; a set of well-calibrated and high quality magnetic field and plasma density data; the joint academic activities and scientific publications. Related Funding supports: Besides the limited funding provided by Dragon 5 project, both sides will fund the research activities by themselves, to well organize their own team, to execute the joint cooperation tasks with support of other related funding. For the Chinese side, the activities involved in this proposal will be supported by CSES 01 mission operation budgets, the National Key R&D Program of China (No.2018YFC1503500) and other national science foundation of China. For the German side, these are the DFG SPP 1788 “Dynamic Earth”, ESA’s Swarm ESL/DISC under grant no 4000109587/13/I-NB, and Helmholtz institutional support. For the Italian side, the activities will be supported by Italian Space Agency under the contract ASI ”LIMADOU scienza” n° 2016-16-H0 and INGV national funds.
