The ground-based all-sky imager (ASI) was an essential instrument component of the storm mission to study the flow of solar wind energy through the magnetosphere. ASI plays two key roles in…

This federal contract award, valued at $100,000.00, was granted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory LLC (APL) to develop methodologies for estimating precipitating electron energy and energy flux using data from APL's ground-based all-sky imager (ASI) array in Alaska. The objectives are to determine methods to automatically identify magnetospheric modes, auroral features, and oval boundaries from the ASI data, which provides unprecedented monitoring of the nightside interactions between the solar wind and magnetosphere. This research supports NASA's STORM mission to study the flow of solar wind energy through the magnetosphere. No set-aside designation was used for this award. APL is a not-for-profit university-affiliated research center that regularly delivers solutions to government agencies across areas like defense, space, and biomedical research through prime and subcontract vehicles.

The ground-based all-sky imager (ASI) was an essential instrument component of the storm mission to study the flow of solar wind energy through the magnetosphere. ASI plays two key roles in identification of the times, locations, and modes when energy is released and quantification of energy loss to atmosphere. The ASI array, consisting of observatories spanning from alaska to canada, offers an unprecedented opportunity to monitor the nightside responses due to the interactions of solar wind and magnetosphere. The implementation of this imaging array can capture the magnetospheric rapid evolution of fine-scale structure of green-line (557.7 NM) and red-line (630.0 NM) emissions in a wide area of the nightside auroral oval where the most of substorms occur. The ASI array provides the precise timing and location of the auroral activation relative to explosive magnetotail activity. The objectives of this proposal will investigate (1) to determine the methodology to estimate the precipitating electron energy and energy flux using ASI images from different emissions, and (2) determine the methodology to automatically identify substorms, magnetospheric modes, auroral features, such as streamers, auroral arcs, substorms, etc., and auroral oval boundaries. We will use the data from APL s ground-based multispectral imaging array stationed in alaska for analysis and demonstration in this research.