Magnetospheric ION temperature derived from twins ENA - data upgrade in the proposed work we will complete the creation of a comprehensive database of magnetospheric ION temperature derived from…

This federal contract award, numbered NNX17AF05G, was issued by the Shared Services Center (an alternate name for NASA) to Eastern Michigan University (EMU) for a project titled "Magnetospheric Ion Temperature Derived from TWINS ENA - Data Upgrade". The $79,973.34 grant will allow EMU to complete the creation of a comprehensive database of magnetospheric ion temperature data derived from NASA's Two Wide-Angle Imaging Neutral-Atom Spectrometers (TWINS) energetic neutral atom instrument. This data will be archived in a format compatible with the Virtual Observatory architecture, enabling future investigations of energy transfer across a range of solar wind conditions. The work will provide storm-specific ion temperature values to support inner magnetospheric modeling. This contract does not have a set-aside designation.

Magnetospheric ION temperature derived from twins ENA - data upgrade in the proposed work we will complete the creation of a comprehensive database of magnetospheric ION temperature derived from NASA s two wide-angle imaging neutral-atom spectrometers (twins) energetic neutral atom (ENA) instrument, provide critical metadata, and archive all of this at the nssdc in a format compatible with the VXO architecture. The terrestrial magnetosphere contains several distinct plasma populations: the plasmasphere, the ring current, the ionosphere, the radiation belts, and the plasma sheet. The plasma sheet is a layer of hot plasma that extends from the magnetotail into the inner magnetosphere. During a geomagnetic storm, reconnection in the tail forces energetic particles earthward through the plasma sheet into the ring current. This interconnection of the source and loss processes of the different plasma systems in the inner magnetosphere dramatizes the need to study these particle populations as one coupled system. Production and availability of this dataset will allow future investigations of energy transfer across a broad range of solar wind driving conditions. This work will facilitate analysis of the ION temperature throughout geomagnetic events in terms of storm size and solar wind driver. These data will enable research on the transport of plasma throughout the coupled sun-earth system. These data will provide storm-specific ION temperature values with spatial and temporal resolution to establish accurate boundary conditions for inner magnetospheric models. Twins ENA measurements enable remote imaging, thus providing a global view of the magnetosphere.