Analysis software for upper atmospheric data developed by the IUGONET project and its application to polar science

To comprehensively understand the Arctic and Antarctic upper atmosphere, it is often crucial to analyze various data that are obtained from many regions. Infrastructure that promotes such interdisciplinary studies on the upper atmosphere has been developed by a Japanese inter-university project called the Inter-university Upper atmosphere Global Observation Network （1UGONET）. The objective of this paper is to describe the infrastructure and tools developed by IUGONET. We focus on the data analysis software. It is written in Interactive Data Language （IDL） and is a plug-in for the THEMIS Data Analysis Software suite （TDAS）, which is a set of IDL libraries used to visualize and analyze satellite- and ground-based data. We present plots of upper atmospheric data provided by IUGONET as examples of applications, and verify the usefulness of the software in the study of polar science. We discuss IUGONET＇s new and unique developments, i.e., an executable file of TDAS that can run on the IDL Virtual Machine, IDL routines to retrieve metadata from the IUGONET database, and an archive of 3-D simulation data that uses the Common Data Format so that it can easily be used with TDAS.

Global distributions of storm-time ionospheric currents as seen in geomagnetic field variations

To investigate temporal and spatial evolution of global geomagnetic field variations from high-latitude to the equator during geomagnetic storms, we analyzed ground geomagnetic field disturbances from high latitudes to the magnetic equator. The daytime ionospheric equivalent current during the storm main phase showed that twin-vortex ionospheric currents driven by the Region 1 field-aligned currents （R1 FACs） are intensified significantly and expand to the low-latitude region of-30~ magnetic latitude. Centers of the currents were located around 70~ and 65~ in the morning and afternoon, respectively. Corresponding to intensification of the R1 FACs, an enhancement of the eastward/westward equatorial electrojet occurred at the daytime/nighttime dip equator. This signature suggests that the enhanced convection electric field penetrates to both the daytime and nighttime equa- tor. During the recovery phase, the daytime equivalent current showed that two new pairs of twin vortices, which are different from two-cell ionospheric currents driven by the R1 FACs, appear in the polar cap and mid latitude. The former led to enhanced north- ward Bz （NBZ） FACs driven by lobe reconnection tailward of the cusps, owing to the northward interplanetary magnetic field （IMF）. The latter was generated by enhanced Region 2 field-aligned currents （R2 FACs）. Associated with these magnetic field variations in the mid-latitudes and polar cap, the equatorial magnetic field variation showed a strongly negative signature, produced by the westward equatorial electrojet current caused by the dusk-to-dawn electric field.

An integrated analysis platform merging SuperDARN data within the THEMIS tool developed by ERG-Science Center (ERG-SC)

The Energization and Radiation in Geospace （ERG） mission seeks to explore the dynamics of the radiation belts in the Earth＇s inner magnetosphere with a space-borne probe （ERG satellite） in coordination with related ground observations and simulations/modeling studies. For this mission, the Science Center of the ERG project （ERG-SC） will provide a useful data analysis platform based on the THEMIS Data Analysis software Suite （TDAS）, which has been widely used by researchers in many conjunction studies of the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms （THEMIS） spacecraft and ground data. To import SuperDARN data to this highly useful platform, ERG-SC, in close collaboration with SuperDARN groups, developed the Common Data Format （CDF） design suitable for fitacf data and has prepared an open database of SuperDARN data archived in CDE ERG-SC has also been developing programs written in Interactive Data Language （IDL） to load fltacf CDF files and to generate various kinds of plots-not only range-time-intensity-type plots but also two-dimensional map plots that can be superposed with other data, such as all-sky images of THEMIS-GBO and orbital footprints of various satellites. The CDF-TDAS scheme developed by ERG-SC will make it easier for researchers who are not familiar with SuperDARN data to access and analyze SuperDARN data and thereby facilitate collaborative studies with satellite data, such as the inner magnetosphere data pro- vided by the ERG （Japan）-RBSP （USA）-THEMIS （USA） fleet.