The Space Weather Timeline Viewer: Interactive exploration of Swarm observations with other datasets and models

Abstract

As part of the Swarm-SWITCH project, which was proposed in response to the Swarm DISC "Swarm for Space Weather" call, we have added Swarm data on the thermosphere-ionosphere to our tool for monitoring and exploring space weather observations.

The Space Weather Timeline Viewer tool is an easy-to-use open source web application. It is free to use without a need to register or install software, at https://spaceweather.knmi.nl/viewer. The tool can show time series plots of Swarm observations in combination with a large variety of basic space weather parameters, such as ground magnetometer observations and indices, interplanetary magnetic field and solar wind conditions, etc. The intuitive interface allows users to easily zoom in on details or zoom out to view context on the timeline, by using the mouse, trackpad or touch screen in a very similar way as in online mapping applications like Google Maps.

The Swarm observations can also be shown side-by-side with models evaluated along the Swarm trajectory, which is very useful for continuous validation of data quality and model performance. For the project, we have also added the capability to display images in the same user interface on the timeline in two distinct ways. The first method is based on sequences of images, each linked to a single timestamp. This results in movie-like playback with precise user control, useful for showing Swarm data in combination with ionospheric remote sensing data from, for example NASA GOLD and auroral imagers. The method can also be used to show Swarm observations in the context of images obtained from output of global or regional models.

The second method is based on images that contain data between two timestamps, that stretch when the user zooms in and out. This method is useful for the interactive exploration of time-latitude heat-map type plots, including keograms, but also for spectograms of high-rate observations.

In our opinion, the combination of context and detail that the tool can provide to users with these techniques will be extremely useful for space weather and space physics education, operational space weather monitoring and case studies. We will demonstrate this by showing the use of the tool in case studies on geomagnetic storms, the effects in the thermosphere-ionosphere after the January 15, 2022 volcanic eruption and the February 2022 loss of recently-launched Starlink satellites.