HR: 0830h
AN: SH51B-10    [Abstracts]
TI: Shock and Discontinuities Analysis Tool (SDAT)
AU: * Viñas, A F
EM: adolfo.f.vinas@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 612.2, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Holland, M P
EM: Matthew.P.Holland@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 612.2, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AB: We have developed an analysis/visualization tool to study shocks and other discontinuities from satellite observations of plasma and magnetic field data. The tool uses an extension of the Viñas-Scudder analysis method based on the Rankine-Hugoniot conservation equations and published in JGR (1985). SDAT provides shock parameters such as the normal components n, shock speed U_s, angle between the normal and the upstream magnetic field Θ_Bn, Alfvén and magnetosonic Mach numbers, deHoffman-Teller velocity and many other important shock parameters to describe the shock . SDAT was developed fully in IDL. As currently configured, SDAT reads ASCII data from any space mission for the analysis. All data displays and graphics generated by SDAT are written in Postcript and a summary of the analysis is generated as an ASCII file. The input plasma (ρ, V, T_p and T_e) and magnetic field (B) data is read from different files at their own native resolution. The tool allows for data zooming in time and the input data can be in any coordinate system. Examples of real satellite data are included to facilitate the learning process in the usage of the tool. This tool is available to the space physics community. As configured, the tool is basically complete for shock analysis; however, work continues to generalize SDAT for the analysis of other types of discontinuities.
DE: 2139 Interplanetary shocks
DE: 2154 Planetary bow shocks
DE: 7851 Shock waves
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly