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This article discusses the operational use of radiation belt models, including static and dynamic models, and an alternative ad-hoc approach. It highlights the need for integration with spacecraft data, real-time runs, and ad-hoc generation of radiation belt maps for enhanced spacecraft protection.
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Toward operational use of radiation belt models D. Heynderickx BIRA, Ringlaan 3, B-1180 Brussel, Belgium
Overview • Definition of terms: • “radiation belts” • “models” • “operational use” • Operational use of existing models • Static models • Dynamic models • Alternative approach: ad-hoc construction of radiation belts from multi-point observations and physical model • Toward operational models
Definition of terms • “Radiation belts”: • trapped proton and electron population from 100km to GEO orbit and just beyond • Characterised by energy, spatial location, and epoch (for time dependent models) • AP-8 & AE-8 cover spatial region and most of the energy range, but no time dependence • Other models (CRRESPRO, CRRESELE, NOAAPRO, PSB97, POLE, …) only have partial coverage (location, energy, time) • “Models”: • Current models are lookup tables of fluxes in terms of energy, magnetic coordinates, magnetic or solar wind indices, time • “Operational use”: • Real time runs for actual spacecraft locations and magnetospheric conditions
Operational use of existing models • Spacecraft location and epoch for model runs: • From orbit generator • Actual spacecraft ephemeris • Radiation belt model needs to be integrated with coordinate generator (conversion of geographic to magnetic coordinates) • Local runs of tailored applications • Remote runs of standard applications (e.g. SPENVIS) • Use of static models: • Inputs are limited to location and energy • “Static” tools can be built and run locally or remotely • Use of dynamic models: • Similar to static models, but extra input is needed: magnetic or solar wind indices • IRI model: index data file updated on regular intervals • Automatic retrieval of indices from services (e.g. SWENET)
Ad hoc generation of radiation belt maps • ESA study RERMM (Radiation Environment Research from Multiple Monitors): • ONERA, BIRA, UCL, DMI, QinetiQ, P. Bühler • Provide on-line access (via WWW interface) to data from instruments on different European spacecraft (XMM, Integral, PROBA, HEO3, SAC-C) • Data selection and graphical representation (using SEDAT) • Cross-calibration of measurements • Combination with Salammbô runs to generate maps of the radiation belts • “Fly” a spacecraft through the generated maps: interpolate maps to spacecraft locations and specified energy range
Toward operational models • New generation of radiation belt models should take into account operational use: • Integration with other tools and software (interface requirements) • Limit magnetic and solar wind indices to those available in (near-) real time • External magnetic field model shouldn’t require additional indices • Standardisation: • Ingestion of spacecraft locations • Ingestion of model parameters (magnetic and solar wind indices, energies) • Conversion to magnetic coordinates (software libraries: UNILIB, ONERA toolkit, …) • Model outputs (flux or fluence) for use in other tools (spacecraft effects models, graphical representation, warning systems, …)