SPRG Seminars
March 31, 2009:
"Magnetospheric ENA Imaging - Past, Present and Future?"
Dr. Joerg-Micha Jahn, Southwest Research Institute
Over the past decade we have been witnessing an increasing abundance of energetic neutral atom (ENA) observations of Earth's magnetosphere. Both more incidental measurements (POLAR) and dedicated missions (IMAGE, TWINS) have been focussing primarily on imaging Earth's ring current. While not necessarily radically changing our understanding of inner magnetospheric physics, these efforts have provided much more global data of ring current composition, morphology, and temporal development on short time scales than had been previously achieved with in situ missions alone. At the same time, these efforts have unearthed significant and often unanticipated challenges in conducting and understanding ENA measurements.
In this talk we will review some of the main terrestrial ENA imaging results of this past decade. We will discuss the significant challenges that ENA measurements and data analysis face today. We will close with suggestions as to which challenges either need to or should be tackled to increase the utility and reach of magnetospheric ENA measurements. It should be noted that, while focussing exclusively on terrestrial ENA observations in this talk, many of the issues discussed are just as relevant for planetary ENA measurements as well.