Use of Current Data Sets to Depict and Forecast Heliospheric Structure at Earth
Abstract
Solar disturbances produce major effects in the corona, its extension into the interplanetary medium, and ultimately, the Earth's environment. The ability to forecast the arrival at Earth of these disturbances and to determine their effects on the geospace environment is of primary interest to the Air Force, which communicates through and maintains satellites within this environment. It is now understood that the largest of these disturbances, called coronal mass ejections or CMEs, are the most important cause of major geomagnetic disturbances at the Earth. We have been at the forefront of studies of the origins and propagation of CMEs, and their effects on geospace. We have developed a tomographic technique to display and measure these disturbances as they move away from the Sun. This capability and knowledge has begun to revolutionize the study of heliospheric space plasma interactions with the Earth's environment. Development of powerful analysis and modeling techniques is a serious challenge that must be addressed in order to maximize the scientific and forecasting return from remotely sensed solar data. An important requirement for the efficient analysis of these observations will be the ability to trace solar plasma changes near Earth and elsewhere in the interplanetary medium in three dimensions, thereby enabling us to model and study the physics of heliospheric disturbances from a three-dimensional perspective.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 05, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA419468
Entities
People
- B. V. Jackson
Organizations
- University of California, San Diego