Canadian Geospace Monitoring - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Canadian Geospace Monitoring (CGSM) is a Canadian space science program that was initiated in 2005. CGSM is funded primarily by the Canadian Space Agency, and consists of networks of imagers, meridian scanning photometer

Photometer

In its widest sense, a photometer is an instrument for measuring light intensity or optical properties of solutions or surfaces. Photometers are used to measure:*Illuminance*Irradiance*Light absorption*Scattering of light*Reflection of light*Fluorescence...

s, riometers, magnetometer

Magnetometer

A magnetometer is a measuring instrument used to measure the strength or direction of a magnetic field either produced in the laboratory or existing in nature...

s, digital ionosonde

Ionosonde

An ionosonde, or chirpsounder, is a special radar for the examination of the ionosphere. An ionosonde consists of:* A high frequency transmitter, automatically tunable over a wide range...

s, and High Frequency

High frequency

High frequency radio frequencies are between 3 and 30 MHz. Also known as the decameter band or decameter wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decameters . Frequencies immediately below HF are denoted Medium-frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Very high frequency...

SuperDARN radars. The overarching objective of CGSM is to provide synoptic observations of the spatio-temporal evolution of the ionospheric

Ionosphere

The ionosphere is a part of the upper atmosphere, comprising portions of the mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere...

thermodynamics and electrodynamics at auroral

Aurora (astronomy)

An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...

and polar latitudes over a large region of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

Background

The interaction between the solar wind

Solar wind

The solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time...

and the Earth's magnetic field

Earth's magnetic field

Earth's magnetic field is the magnetic field that extends from the Earth's inner core to where it meets the solar wind, a stream of energetic particles emanating from the Sun...

has a number of consequences. In brief, these are the formation of the terrestrial Magnetosphere

Magnetosphere

A magnetosphere is formed when a stream of charged particles, such as the solar wind, interacts with and is deflected by the intrinsic magnetic field of a planet or similar body. Earth is surrounded by a magnetosphere, as are the other planets with intrinsic magnetic fields: Mercury, Jupiter,...

, the provision of energy and matter to the [magnetosphere], and the powering of large-scale electric currents and the closely related phenomenon of the aurora

Aurora (astronomy)

An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...

. Near-Earth space physical

Space physics

Space physics, also known as space plasma physics, is the study of plasmas as they occur naturally in the universe. As such, it encompasses a far-ranging number of topics, including the sun, solar wind, planetary magnetospheres and ionospheres, auroras, cosmic rays, and synchrotron radiation...

processes are of interest for economic reasons

Space weather

Space weather is the concept of changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space or thespace from the Sun's atmosphere to the Earth's atmosphere. It is distinct from the concept ofweather within the Earth's planetary atmosphere...

and for what we can learn about our environment and the cosmos. These processes are connected along the magnetic field to the Earth's ionosphere

Ionosphere

, where they lead to the aurora, heating, modification of composition, and large-scale plasma

Plasma (physics)

In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms , thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions...

motions. All of these ionospheric

Ionosphere

processes are interesting in their own right. In addition, there is an increasing understanding of the correspondence between inospheric

Ionosphere

processes and processes going on further out in near-Earth space. In this way, observations of the ionospheric

Ionosphere

processes can be used to in turn remote sense dynamics in near-Earth space.

The interaction is significant at sub-auroral, auroral, and polar latitudes where large regions of the magnetosphere are mapped along the magnetic field into relatively small regions of the ionosphere, and where the magnetospheric

Magnetosphere

dynamics are controlled primarily by the plasma rather than the magnetic field. This organization is actually by magnetic rather than by geographic latitude (see Baker and Wing, and references therein for a description of magnetic vs. geographic coordinates). The aurora

Aurora (astronomy)

An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...

, for example, is most frequently observed at magnetic latitudes between roughly 60 and 80 degrees (see Eather). In the northern hemisphere Canada has the largest land mass at the magnetic latitudes. As a consequence of this so-called "Canadian-advantage", Canada has been a world-leader in ground-based auroral and ionospheric research for decades.

CGSM was envisaged as a national program aimed at obtaining world-class ionospheric

Ionosphere

observations, and with those in hand directly studying ionospheric dynamics and indirectly the magnetospheric

Magnetosphere

dynamics. It was developed with the guiding principles embodied in five grand challenge science themes (see the "CGSM Science Factsheet"). In summary, the science themes are related to the reconnection

Magnetic reconnection

Magnetic reconnection is a physical process in highly conducting plasmas in which the magnetic topology is rearranged and magnetic energy is converted to kinetic energy, thermal energy, and particle acceleration...

and convection cycle, magnetospheric instabilities, the formation of the aurora

Aurora (astronomy)

An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...

, and the acceleration, transport, and loss of magnetospheric plasma

Magnetosphere

. These are science themes that pervade virtually every major space science initiative in the world, and CGSM gives Canada and more importantly Canadian researchers a unique opportunity to contribute new and innovative science.

Technical Description of the Instrument Network

The CGSM science objectives dictate the observational requirements. In short, the program is designed to specify particle precipitation (aurora), electric currents, and plasma convection in the ionosphere over a large region of Canada. This requires networks of ground-based magnetometer

Magnetometer

A magnetometer is a measuring instrument used to measure the strength or direction of a magnetic field either produced in the laboratory or existing in nature...

s, ionosondes, High-Frequency radars, all-sky imagers, meridian scanning photometer

Photometer

s, and riometers. Furthermore, these networks must have overlapping Fields-of-View that span latitudes from the polar region, through the auroral

Aurora (astronomy)

An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...

zone, to sub-auroral latitudes. The observations must be of sufficient time and spatial resolution, and of sufficient quality (what determines quality depends on the instrument in question) to allow for new science to be derived from the observations.

Anticipated CGSM stakeholders met in Edmonton

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

in June 2002 to initiate planning for the program. An ambitious plan was settled on, requiring numerous new instruments of various types to be deployed in challenging remote environments. The instruments would need to operate autonomously for long periods, and suffer few breakdowns. Much of the data would need to be recovered in real-time in order for CGSM to develop into an important space weather

Space weather

program, in addition to its space science objectives. New instruments would need to be acquired, outfitted and fielded at existing and new sites. To accomplish this, the team settled on using Telesat Canada's HSi High Speed Satellite Internet system, in conjunction with an information technology infrastructure (basically a glorified local area network

Local area network

A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...

with additional capabilities including UPS

Uninterruptible power supply

An uninterruptible power supply, also uninterruptible power source, UPS or battery/flywheel backup, is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically mains power, fails...

, GPS, and attached hard-disk storage). Further, members of the team applied to the Canada Foundation for Innovation

Canada Foundation for Innovation

Created by the Government of Canada in 1997, the Canada Foundation for Innovation strives to build our nation’s capacity to undertake world-class research and technology development to benefit Canadians...

for fubds for new instruments, and were successful on all fronts. The resulting funding enabled the deployment (which is still ongoing) of an additional 8 All-Sky Imagers, 14 fluxgate magnetometer

Magnetometer

A magnetometer is a measuring instrument used to measure the strength or direction of a magnetic field either produced in the laboratory or existing in nature...

s, 8 induction coil magnetometer

Magnetometer

A magnetometer is a measuring instrument used to measure the strength or direction of a magnetic field either produced in the laboratory or existing in nature...

s, and two additional SuperDARN radars (the new "PolarDARN" radars). In addition to facilities that were already in place in 2002 (from the Canadian Space Agency's CANOPUS program, the Natural Resources Canada

Natural Resources Canada

The Department of Natural Resources , operating under the FIP applied title Natural Resources Canada , is the ministry of the government of Canada responsible for natural resources, energy, minerals and metals, forests, earth sciences, mapping and remote sensing...

CANMOS magnetometer

Magnetometer

A magnetometer is a measuring instrument used to measure the strength or direction of a magnetic field either produced in the laboratory or existing in nature...

array, and the NSERC supported NORSTAR, SuperDARN, and CADI programs), the final array will certainly meet the scientific requirements.

CGSM began formally with the issuing of contracts to teams at the University of Calgary (photometers, riometers, ASIs), the University of Alberta (simulation, data management, fluxgate magnetometers), and the University of Saskatchewan (SuperDARN HF radars with a subcontract to the University of Western Ontario for digital ionosondes), Natural Resources Canada (space weather operations), and the National Research Council (solar monitor). As well, the University of Calgary developed a new system for managing information technology at the remote sites. In 2007, the CSA called for proposals for the second phase of CGSM. More than 20 proposals were submitted in October, 2007, and contracts were awarded in 2008 for continued and enhanced CGSM activities.

Synergy With Satellite Missions

In a recent review of major Canadian space science projects, Liu et al. pointed out that CGSM is a unique facility on the international stage, owing in part to the above mentioned fact that the bulk of the northern hemisphere auroral region that can be remote sensed from the ground is over Canadian territory, and in part due to a significant investment in new experimental infrastructure that is being and will be realized during the period 2004-2010.

CGSM complements numerous satellite and international ground-based programs. The synergies between CGSM and satellite missions, for example, are very important. Satellites measure the plasma processes at work in the magnetosphere

Magnetosphere

and ionosphere

Ionosphere

directly using magnetometer

Magnetometer

A magnetometer is a measuring instrument used to measure the strength or direction of a magnetic field either produced in the laboratory or existing in nature...

s, and electric field, plasma wave, and particle detectors. These processes, however, are truly multi-scale, with important scale sizes ranging from kilometers or less to tens of thousands of kilometers. Satellite observations are essential because they are our only direct look at the processes of interest. At the same time, the satellites are like "needles in a haystack", owing to the enormous scale sizes of the magnetospheric

Magnetosphere

system and the fact that all the scales seem to be important in the overall dynamic.

The magnetospheric

Magnetosphere

dynamics are projected along magnetic field lines into the ionosphere and are visible, for example, in changes in the aurora

Aurora (astronomy)

An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...

and large-scale ionospheric

Ionosphere

plasma motions. So we get a two-dimension picture of the magnetospheric

Magnetosphere

dynamics which provides an essential complement to the satellite observations. This synergy and its value in advancing science has been increasingly recognized in recent years. The European Space Agency's

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...

Cluster mission

Cluster II is a space mission of the European Space Agency, with NASA participation, to study the Earth's magnetosphere over the course of an entire solar cycle. The mission is composed of four identical spacecraft flying in a tetrahedral formation...

included a Ground-Based Working Group that was created with the express purpose of maximizing the impact of coordinated ground-based observations (see Amm et al., for a description of the impact of the Cluster Ground-Based Working Group). The five-satellite NASA THEMIS mission

THEMIS (satellite)

The Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms mission was originally a constellation of five NASA satellites to study energy releases from Earth's magnetosphere known as substorms, magnetic phenomena that intensify auroras near Earth's poles...

launched on February 17, 2006 includes a ground-based component consisting of 20 ground-based observatories (some of which incorporate CGSM magnetometer data), indicating the recognition of the importance of coordinated ground-based observations.

External links

CGSM and CGSM Program Elements

International Space Physics Programs

Selected Relevant Satellite Missions

Selected General Interest Sites

Agencies that have Supported CGSM

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