SWARM+ COUPLING: HIGH-LOW ATMOSPHERE INTERACTIONS: VERtical coupling in Earth’s Atmosphere at mid and high latitudes (VERA)

As described in the Statement of Work (SoW) document for the Swarm+ Coupling: High-Low Atmosphere Interactions, recent studies have revealed “a clear response of the low-latitude ionosphere to the large-scale meteorological events in the stratosphere called Sudden Stratospheric Warming events (SSW)”. In response to ESA ‘s Invitation to Tender (ITT), VERtical coupling in Earth’s Atmosphere at mid and high latitudes (VERA) investigates the SSW influence on the upper atmosphere based on Swarm observations, with special focus on the middle- and high-latitude regions.

Swarm’s high precision magnetometers and its dedicated constellation for geospace research enable monitoring of inter-hemispheric field-aligned currents (IHFACs). The exploration of the Swarm IHFAC data, and comparisons with state-of-the-art numerical models can reveal how the inter-hemispheric coupling of the ionosphere can be disturbed by atmospheric forcing during SSWs. Also, the pole-to-pole measurements of the electron density by Swarm, along with the ionospheric data from ground-based radars and numerical simulations, will be explored for the possible influence of SSWs on the high-latitude ionosphere.

The project was launched in June 2019 under the partnership of the GFZ (DE), CAS (CZ), UNB (CA). The scientific activity will continue until September 2020.