Swarm Products and Space Weather Applications

The Swarm satellite constellation mission provides high precision magnetic field data and models and other observations that enable us to explore near Earth space for example in terms of in situ electron density and electric fields. On board GPS observables can be used for sounding ionospheric and plasmaspheric electron content and GPS and accelerometer data are used to derive information on thermospheric density.Continuous data sets from LEO satellites, such as Swarm, and often combined with ground observations have been useful in developing empirical models of the temporal occurrence and local distribution of typical structures, like the expansion of the auroral oval depending on magnetic activity; or the typical climatological behaviour of plasma structures in the F region ionosphere, such as equatorial depletions or polar enhancements. Among others, these three phenomena can harm, for example, continuous radio navigation and communication (e.g., Galileo, GPS) through the development of severe ionospheric plasma gradients, e.g., during geomagnetic storms.This paper will discuss opportunities from LEO satellites for imaging the actual state of the magnetosphere and upper atmosphere for applications in aeronomy and space weather. We will emphasize results from the Swarm mission.