ISSI Scientific Report Volume 17

Ionospheric Multi-Spacecraft Analysis Tools

Approaches for Deriving Ionospheric Parameters

edited by M.W. Dunlop and H. Lühr

This open access book provides a comprehensive toolbox of analysis techniques forionospheric multi-satellite missions. The immediate need for this volume was motivatedby the ongoing ESA Swarm satellite mission, but the tools that are described are generaland can be used for any future ionospheric multi-satellite mission with comparableinstrumentation.
In addition to researching the immediate plasma environment and its coupling to otherregions, such a mission aims to study the Earth’s main magnetic field and its anomaliescaused by core, mantle, or crustal sources. The parameters for carrying out this kind of work are examined in these chapters. Besides currents, electric fields, and plasmaconvection, these parameters include ionospheric conductance, Joule heating, neutralgas densities, and neutral winds.