Comments to Geosynchronous Satellite Challenge

Challenge participants are encouraged to submit model ouput along all geosynchroneous trajectories available for the selected event.The satellites with trajectories available on SSCweb and CDAweb are pre-selected during submission. Feel free to make your own selections. Submissions along subsets of trajectories are also welcome.

Information on geosynchroneous satellite trajectories availability, GOES Magnetometer data availablilty, and Michelle Thomsen comments on Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer data quality and availability can be found below.


Event 1: October 29th, 2003 06:00 UT - October 30th, 06:00 UT

a) Satellite trajectory availability
at sscweb (http://sscweb.gsfc.nascweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/sscweb/Locator.cgi): LANL-90, LANL-91, LANL-94, LANL-97A, LANL-01A, LANL-02A, GOES-8,GOES-10,GOES-11,GOES-12.
Trajectories are available in original format (with 3-minute interval) HERE.

b) Magnetometer data availability :
GOES-10, GOES-12.

c) Comments on Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer data quality and availability, by Michelle Thomsen:

Good data from six satellites: LANL-1990, LANL-1991, LANL-1994, LANL-97A, LANL-01A, and LANL-02A.

A challenging interval to model because there are numerous intervals of magnetosheath observations and near-lobe encounters, as well as strong ionospheric upflow. There is modest contamination by SEP penetrating background, particularly on 29 Oct prior to ~1100 UT. A quick glance at the moments indicates that there are a few bad points that are pretty obvious, and which people should probably remove if they want to do a quantitative comparison.


Event 2: December 14, 2006 12:00 UT - December 16, 00:00 UT

a) Satellite trajectory availability
at sscweb (http://sscweb.gsfc.nascweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/sscweb/Locator.cgi): LANL-89, LANL-94, LANL-97A, GOES-10, GOES-11, GOES-12, LANL-01A, LANL-02A.
Trajectories are available in original format (with 3-minute interval) HERE.

b) Magnetometer data availability :
GOES-11, GOES-12.

c) Comments on Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer data quality and availability by Michelle Thomsen:

Good coverage from five satellites: LANL-1989, LANL-1994, LANL-97A, LANL-01A, and LANL-02A.

Significant penetrating background, particularly on the 15th. Several intervals of magnetosheath and lobe encounters. A lot of the LANL-1989 ion measurements are incorrect because of an intermittent failure of the post-acceleration (e.g., 15 Dec, ~0200-2315 UT). This will show up as extremely low values of the ion densities, but the electrons are unaffected by this problem.


Event 3: August 31, 2001 00:00 UT - September 1, 00:00 UT

a) Satellite trajectory availability
at sscweb (http://sscweb.gsfc.nasscweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/sscweb/Locator.cgi): LANL-90, LANL-91, LANL-94, LANL-97A, LANL-01A, GOES-8,GOES-10,GOES-11.
Trajectories are available in original format (with 3-minute interval) HERE.

b) Magnetometer data availability :
GOES-8, GOES-10.

c) Comments on Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer data quality and availability by Michelle Thomsen:

Quite poor coverage: One satellite (LANL-97A) had ~90% coverage for the day, and two others (LANL-94 and LANL-01A) had a few brief intervals.


Event 4: August 31, 2005 10:00 UT - September 1, 12:00 UT

a) Satellite trajectory availability
at sscweb (http://sscweb.gsfc.nasscweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/sscweb/Locator.cgi): LANL-90, LANL-94, LANL-97, LANL-01, LANL-02, GOES-10,GOES-11,GOES-12.
Trajectories are available in original format (with 3-minute interval) HERE

b) Magnetometer data availability :
none

c) Comments on Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer data quality and availability by Michelle Thomsen:

Good coverage from five satellites: LANL-1990, LANL-1994, LANL-97A, LANL-01A, and LANL-02A. Very low penetrating background, only 1 or 2 magnetosheath intervals, but lots of strong surface charging.