Christoph Püthe

The Swarm Satellite Constellation Application and Research Facility (SCARF) and Swarm data products

Swarm, a three-satellite constellation to study the dynamics of the Earth’s magnetic field and its interactions with the Earth system, is expected to be launched in late 2013. The objective of the Swarm mission is to provide the best ever survey of the geomagnetic field and its temporal evolution, in order to gain new insights into the Earth system by improving our understanding of the Earth’s interior and environment. In order to derive advanced models of the geomagnetic field (and other higher-level data products) it is necessary to take explicit advantage of the constellation aspect of Swarm. The Swarm SCARF (SatelliteConstellationApplication andResearchFacility) has been established with the goal of deriving Level-2 products by combination of data from the three satellites, and of the various instruments. The present paper describes the Swarm input data products (Level-1b and auxiliary data) used by SCARF, the various processing chains of SCARF, and the Level-2 output data products determined by SCARF.

Determination of the 3-D distribution of electrical conductivity in Earth’s mantle from Swarm satellite data: Frequency domain approach based on inversion of induced coefficients

Mapping the three-dimensional (3-D) electrical conductivity of Earth’s mantle has been identified as one of the primary scientific objectives for the Swarm satellite mission. We present a 3-D frequency domain inversion scheme to recover mantle conductivity from satellite magnetic data. The scheme is based on an inversion of time spectra of internal (induced) spherical harmonic coefficients of the magnetic potential due to magnetospheric sources. Time series of internal and external (inducing) coefficients, whose determination is a prerequisite for this formulation, will be available as a Swarm Level-2 data product. An iterative gradient-type (quasi-Newton) optimization method is chosen to solve our 3-D non-linear inverse problem. In order to make the inversion tractable, we elaborate an adjoint approach for a fast and robust calculation of the data misfit gradient. We verify our approach with synthetic, but realistic time spectra of internal coefficients, obtained by simulating induction due to a realistic magnetospheric source in a 3-D conductivity model of the Earth. In these model studies, both shape and conductivity of a large-scale conductivity anomaly in the mid-mantle are recovered very well. The inversion scheme also shows to be robust with respect to noise and is therefore ready to process Swarm data.

Reproducing electric field observations during magnetic storms by means of rigorous 3-D modelling and distortion matrix co-estimation

Electric fields induced in the conducting Earth by geomagnetic disturbances drive currents in power transmission grids, telecommunication lines or buried pipelines, which can cause service disruptions. A key step in the prediction of the hazard to technological systems during magnetic storms is the calculation of the geoelectric field. To address this issue for mid-latitude regions, we revisit a method that involves 3-D modelling of induction processes in a heterogeneous Earth and the construction of a magnetospheric source model described by low-degree spherical harmonics from observatory magnetic data. The actual electric field, however, is known to be perturbed by galvanic effects, arising from very local near-surface heterogeneities or topography, which cannot be included in the model. Galvanic effects are commonly accounted for with a real-valued time-independent distortion matrix, which linearly relates measured and modelled electric fields. Using data of six magnetic storms that occurred between 2000 and 2003, we estimate distortion matrices for observatory sites onshore and on the ocean bottom. Reliable estimates are obtained, and the modellings are found to explain up to 90% of the measurements. We further find that 3-D modelling is crucial for a correct separation of galvanic and inductive effects and a precise prediction of the shape of electric field time series during magnetic storms. Since the method relies on precomputed responses of a 3-D Earth to geomagnetic disturbances, which can be recycled for each storm, the required computational resources are negligible. Our approach is thus suitable for real-time prediction of geomagnetically induced currents by combining it with reliable forecasts of the source field.

Determination of the 1-D distribution of electrical conductivity in Earth’s mantle from Swarm satellite data

We present an inversion scheme to recover the (1-D) depth profile of mantle conductivity from satellite magnetic data, which takes into account 3-D effects arising from the distribution of oceans and continents. The scheme is based on an iterative inversion of C-responses, which are estimated from time series of the dominating external (inducing) and internal (induced) spherical harmonic coefficients of the magnetic potential due to a magnetospheric source. These time series will be available as a Swarm Level-2 data product. We verify our approach by using synthetic, but realistic time series obtained by simulating induction due to a realistic magnetospheric source in a 3-D “target” conductivity model of the Earth. This model contains not only a laterally heterogeneous layer representing oceans and continents, but also 3-D inhomogeneities in the mantle. The inversion for mantle conductivity is initiated with a uniform conductivity model. Convergence is reached within a few iterations. The recovered model agrees well with the laterally averaged target model, although the latter comprises large jumps in conductivity. Our 1-D inversion scheme is therefore ready to process Swarm data.

Towards quantitative assessment of the hazard from space weather. Global 3-D modellings of the electric field induced by a realistic geomagnetic storm

In order to estimate the hazard to technological systems due to geomagnetically induced currents (GIC), it is crucial to understand the response of the geoelectric field to a geomagnetic disturbance and to provide quantitative estimates of this field. Most previous studies on GIC and the geoelectric field generated during a geomagnetic storm assume a 1-D conductivity structure of Earth. This assumption however is invalid in coastal regions, where the lateral conductivity contrast is large. In this paper, we investigate the global spatio-temporal pattern of the surface geoelectric field induced by a typical major geomagnetic storm in a conductivity model of Earth with realistic laterally-heterogeneous oceans and continents. Exploiting this model makes the problem fully 3-D. Data from worldwide distributed magnetic observatories are used to construct a realistic model of the magnetospheric source. The results of our numerical studies show large amplification of the geoelectric field in many coastal regions. Peak amplitudes obtained with 3-D modelling exceed the amplitudes obtained in a 1-D model by at least a factor 2, even if the latter makes use of the local vertical conductivity structure. Lithosphere resistivity is a critical parameter, which governs both amplitude and penetration width of the anomalous electric field inland.