16/03/2026
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It appears inconceivable {that a} satellite tv for pc designed to watch polar ice sheets and floating sea ice may precisely measure a disturbance in Earth’s magnetic subject. However that’s simply what ESA’s CryoSat mission did earlier this yr.
It is a story of distinctive innovation in satellite tv for pc know-how. On the finish of final yr, the CryoSat mission, which has been working for nearly 16 years, was given a distant improve of recent software program for its platform magnetometer. This instrument is put in on the satellite tv for pc to make sure it orbits on the proper altitude and directs its science devices in direction of the correct a part of Earth’s floor. The platform magnetometer is subsequently an operational instrument and was not designed to provide scientific information about Earth’s magnetic surroundings.
The truth is, CryoSat is understood primarily as an ice mission. It carries a complicated radar instrument that measures small adjustments on the floor of ice sheets and sea ice, all the way down to an accuracy of some millimetres. As a part of ESA’s Earth Explorer household of satellites, it has produced scientific datasets that give us insights into Earth’s polar oceans, subglacial lakes, in addition to ice sheets.
The improve to its operational magnetometer implies that CryoSat is now additionally in a position to measure adjustments in Earth’s magnetosphere with scientific precision, utilizing information to calibrate its measurements from ESA’s devoted magnetic field-observing Earth Explorer, Swarm. This newly acquired ability means there at the moment are in impact two magnetometry missions in ESA’s Earth Explorer household. Swarm (and CryoSat) might be joined by one other magnetic field-measuring Scout satellite tv for pc, NanoMagSat, which is presently in growth.
Swarm stays ESA’s major mission devoted to finding out Earth’s magnetic subject, whereas CryoSat maintains its key give attention to measuring and monitoring adjustments to ice sheets and our polar oceans. The essential factor to level out is that CryoSat’s platform magnetometer is getting used innovatively to measure Earth’s stronger exterior magnetic subject variations. It’s offering glorious information in comparison with different platform magnetometers on different non-magnetic missions and the improve helps the geomagnetic neighborhood by offering a complementary dataset.
Anja Stromme, ESA’s Mission Supervisor for Swarm, stated, “It is a nice accomplishment that considerably advantages the Swarm neighborhood.”
At the start of this yr, CryoSat was in a position to put its new-found abilities to good use when a very sturdy X-class photo voltaic flare brought on a geomagnetic storm in Earth’s environment. The occasion started on 18 January and brought on a number of the most intense radiation storms on report – with individuals in a position to witness beautiful aurora in a lot decrease latitudes than regular, from Europe to Mexico. The trigger was an eruption on the Solar’s floor, which launched excessive power particles that reached Earth inside 25 hours. Over a interval of three days, CryoSat was in a position to contribute scientific information to measure the depth of the geomagnetic storm. CryoSat’s information proved to be of top quality and complementary to information produced by Swarm.
A knowledge evaluation technique, launched on this study, in Geophysical Analysis Letters, was used to create an animation (see video beneath) exhibiting the photo voltaic storm’s influence on Earth’s magnetic subject throughout the photo voltaic storm.
“This innovation is each distinctive and thrilling,” stated Tommaso Parrinello, ESA’s CryoSat Mission Supervisor, including, “That is about leveraging information from an present system that has been used for the previous 16 years to actively management the satellite tv for pc’s orientation in house.
“In essence, we use magnetometers to sense the Earth’s magnetosphere, which then sends indicators to the onboard laptop to regulate the satellite tv for pc’s orientation, making certain it achieves its mission goals. The precision and low noise stage of those measurements have led the scientific neighborhood to recognise their worth as scientific information. Consequently, a brand new information packet is now generated by the onboard laptop for scientific functions.”
This new means to create magnetometry datasets utilizing acquisitions from CryoSat, complementing these from the Swarm mission, presents distinctive advantages at no further value. Tommaso famous, “There may be a lot of thrilling science nonetheless to return as each missions fly on properly past their design lifetimes.”
