HR: 11:50h
AN: SH41C-07 INVITED     [PDF]
TI: The Solar Mass Ejection Imager: Early Results and Prospects for Space Weather Forecasts
AU: * Mozer, J B
EM: jmozer@nso.edu
AF: Air Force Research Laboratory Space Weather Center of Excellence, AFRL/VSBXS 3004 Solar Physics Way, Sunspot, NM 88349 United States
AU: Radick, R R
EM: radick@nso.edu
AF: Air Force Research Laboratory Space Weather Center of Excellence, AFRL/VSBXS 3004 Solar Physics Way, Sunspot, NM 88349 United States
AU: Johnston, J C
EM: janet.johnston@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Laboratory Space Weather Center of Excellence, AFRL/VSBXS 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731 United States
AU: Webb, D F
EM: david.webb@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Boston College, AFRL/VSBXS 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731 United States
AU: Sun, W
EM: sun@jupiter.gi.alaska.edu
AF: University of Alaska Geophysical Institute, 903 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Deehr, C S
EM: cdeehr@gi.alaska.edu
AF: University of Alaska Geophysical Institute, 903 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Fry, C D
EM: gfry@expi.com
AF: Exploration Physics International, Suite 37-105 6275 University Drive, Huntsville, AL 35806 United States
AU: Dryer, M
EM: murray.dryer@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA Space Environment Center, 325 Broadway Ave, Boulder, CO 80305 United States
AU: Smith, Z
EM: zdenka.smith@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA Space Environment Center, 325 Broadway Ave, Boulder, CO 80305 United States
AU: Akasofu, S I
EM: sakasofu@iarc.uaf.edu
AF: International Arctic Research Center, 930 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AB: The Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) was launched on 6 January 2003 on a proof-of-concept mission to demonstrate the feasibility of a space-based heliospheric imager for detecting and tracking Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and other dense structures in the solar wind. SMEI is comprised of three spaceward-looking push broom imagers that together provide photometric images of the entire sky, minus a small region near the Sun, every 101 minutes. The unique sunlight rejection baffles and high photometric sensitivity of the SMEI cameras allows for the imaging of CMEs via relatively faint Thomson-scattered sunlight from regions of enhanced electron density. Due to its all-sky field-of-regard, SMEI can track and monitor the evolution of CMEs from near the Sun out to and beyond 1 A.U. This capability affords the unprecedented opportunity to study interplanetary CMEs and to forecast the arrival of potentially geoeffective structures at Earth. A number of CMEs have been detected by SMEI since its launch, including a halo event on 28-29 May 2003 that was associated with a geomagnetic storm on 30 May as indicated by both ACE and ground-based measurements. In this talk, we show examples and pertinent statistics of several of the events captured by SMEI and explore prospects for the use of SMEI data in operational space weather forecasting as well as pertinant simulations made using the Hakamada-Akasofu-Fry (HAF) kinematic solar wind model.
DE: 2102 Corotating streams
DE: 2111 Ejecta, driver gases, and magnetic clouds
DE: 2139 Interplanetary shocks
DE: 2164 Solar wind plasma
DE: 2194 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA - Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting