1. Alan Burns, Richard Eastes*, Bill McClintock,
The GOLD mission, and opportunities to enhance understanding of the thermosphere/ionosphere system through collaboration
Alan Burns, Richard Eastes*, Bill McClintock,
Dave Anderson, Laila Andersson, Mihail Codrescu, John Correira, Rob Daniels, Scott England, Scott Evans, Jerry Lumpe, Andrey Krymonos, Carlos Martinis, Dave Rusch, Stan Solomon, Tom Woods, Jens Oberheide,and Scott Budzein.

2. GOLD Status Launched on SES-14 - Jan 25, 2018
Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana
Detector doors opened - Jan 29, 2018
Transfer to GEO in progress
Operations begin October 2018
GOLD Launch (Jan 25th, 2018)

3. Where is GOLD today! Epoch (UTC): 21 June Eccentricity: 0.1021118
inclination:
2.0499°
perigee height:
31470 km
apogee height:
40079 km

4. GOLD Science is Framed by 4 Questions
Science Question 1. How do geomagnetic storms alter the temperature and composition structure of the thermosphere?
Science Question 2. What is the global-scale response of the thermosphere to solar extreme-ultraviolet variability?
Science Question 3. How significant are the effects of atmospheric waves and tides propagating from below on thermospheric temperature structure?
Science Question 4. How does the nighttime equatorial ionosphere influence the formation and evolution of equatorial plasma density irregularities?

5. Daily Science Operations
Commands are uploaded to the GOLD instrument on a weekly basis
Uploads contain absolute and relative time sequences

6. L2 Data Products Validation
4/14/2019
L2 Data Products Validation
Data
Description
[units]
Validation Approach
Lead
Level 2
 O/N2
Neutral composition. Ratio of O to N2 vertical column density
[dimensionless]
Coincident ICON O/N2; coincident GUVI and SSUSI data if available
J. Correira
Tdisk
Thermospheric neutral temperature [K]
Coincident ISR data and cross comparison with Texo
S. Solomon
 QEUV
Solar EUV flux proxy  
[mW/m2]
Coincident Solar disk obs.
S. Evans
 Texo
Neutral exospheric temperature
[K]
Coincident data from ICON; coincident GUVI and SSUSI data if available
 O2
O2 number density profile
[mol/cm3]
Comparison with historical data and cross comparison with ICON measurements of N2 limb profiles
J. Lumpe
 Nmax
Peak electron density 
[electrons/cm3]
Coincident data from Jicamarca ISR and ionosondes; COSMIC II, if available
C. Martinis
BOI, N2
Emission brightness
[Rayleighs]
Coincident satellite data (ICON, GUVI, SSUSI, etc.)
W. McClintock

7. Data Products versus Science Requirements
Notes/Constraints
Requirement
Realized*
Images of Temperature
60 min Cadence
250 x 250 km2 Resolution
Precision – 55 K
27 K
Images of O/N2
Radiance Ratio
30 min Cadence
Precision – 10 %
6.5 %
Exospheric Temperature
100 km Vertical Resolution on Limb
Precision – 40 K
22 K
O2 Column Density
at 160 km
2 %
Vertical Resolution – 10 km
5.5 km
Nmax F2
220 x 220 km2 Resolution
5.7 %
*Realized values from retrievals using simulated data

8. GOLD Field of Regard
Global C band beam

9. O/N2 and Ground Stations (2006 AGU storm)
* ISRs
^ Ionosondes in
Umass Lowell
Database with 2018 data
+ GOLD location

10. Daytime Measurements of NmF2 and O/N2 over Port Stanley.
Port Stanley Ionosonde Observations in Daylight
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
GOLD measurements of O/N2 over Port Stanley
Satellite in LEO measurements of O/N2 over Port Stanley #
…an unprecedented opportunity to compare composition with electron density and to provide a global context for these comparisons

11. The SES-14 satellite with GOLD on board is almost in its geostationary orbit
GOLD is scheduled to provide regular data from October
GOLD provides an unprecedented opportunity for comparisons with ground- and other space-based observations

12. GOLD Airglow Simulation (Solomon)

13. Forcing of the Thermosphere-Ionosphere
Forcing the Upper Atmosphere
Science Questions 1-4
Knipp, 2004