The image to the left makes space weather enthusiasts think of only one thing: ACE solar wind telemetry. The ACE satellite has been monitoring the solar wind for a long time, and has been the primary warning system for incoming interplanetary shockwaves, sector boundaries, coronal hole streams, and other space weather events.
In this case, however, the image happens to be from DSCOVR – the first experimental solar wind data made public. I have been checking NOAA’s services page once a week to see when the first data would come, and on July 17th we got new but familiar look into the future. It looks just like the ACE data, which I like because it makes for a smooth transition. Furthermore, the bottom row is new (White) and shows the time-to-earth-arrival from the moment of the reading. This is like your local weather man’s ‘minute forecast’ in that we now have a more precise idea of when solar particles will reach earth.
Right now the satellite is still in experimental mode with months more testing required, but it is in position, taking readings, and thus far all seems to be going well. “We are very happy with the satellite so far.” said Thomas Berger, Director of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). He was kind enough to chat with us briefly today, and he informed us that they have a lot of hard work to do but they are encouraged thus far, and sometime this fall we can expect a full integration of the DSCOVR telemetry into active SWPC products. I will certainly be adding it to the front page here at SpaceWeatherNews.com as well.
The DSCOVR satellite made news recently for delivering one of the best-ever full sun-lit earth images and the satellite itself will be paramount in fine-tuning the solar effect on climate models. NOAA isn’t done launching new toys either- GOES-R and GOES-S are on the horizon. I had a chance to tour the Orbital Systems facility in Texas in the Mobile Observatory, and I got to see many of the components that go into the ground receiving stations for some of these satellites, including GOES-R.
In just a few short years we will have an impressive array of solar-watching tools at our disposal; NASA’s SDO and the IRIS Satellite are about to get some big-time back-up, and DSCOVR leads the way.
-Ben Davidson July 24, 2015
Phone conversation with Thomas Berger took place July 23, 2015.
Image accessed from NOAA’s SWPC services repository, http://services.swpc.noaa.gov
Ben@ObservatoryProject.com