Monday

The ionosphere is a highly complex plasma containing electron density structures with a wide range of spatial scale sizes. Large-scale structures with horizontal extents of tens to hundreds of km exhibit variation with time of day, season, solar cycle, geomagnetic activity, solar wind conditions, and location. The large-scale structures can also cause smaller-scale irregularities that arise due to instability processes. These smaller scale structures can disrupt trans-ionospheric radio signals, including those used by Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Whilst the processes driving these structures are well understood, the relative importance of these driving processes is a fundamental, unanswered question.
Swarm is ESA's first constellation mission for Earth Observation (EO). It initially consisted of three identical satellites (Swarm A, Swarm B, and Swarm C), which were launched into near-polar orbits on 22 November 2013. Initially the spacecraft flew in a string-of-pearls configuration before the final constellation of the mission was achieved on 17 April 2014. Swarm A and C form the lower pair of satellites flying side-by-side (1.4° separation in longitude). Initially these satellites were at an altitude of 462 km and at an inclination angle of 87.35°. Swarm B was in a higher orbit (initial altitude of 511 km) and at an inclination angle of 87.75°. This unique configuration, in combination with the data products developed for dataset from individual satellites, enables studies of the spatial variability of the ionosphere.
The Swarm-VIP (Variability of Ionospheric Plasma) project aims to characterise the ionospheric plasma and the dynamical coupling between different scales in the ionosphere in response to geomagnetic conditions. In this project a variety of techniques are used to identify the dominant temporal scales. A semi-empirical space weather model is being developed throughout this project. Progress towards this model and outstanding challenges are discussed.