Applications for CryoSat2 satellite magnetic data in studies of Earth's core field variations

TL;DR

This study utilizes 20 years of satellite magnetic data, including CryoSat2, to analyze Earth's core magnetic field variations and secular acceleration at satellite altitude and the core-mantle boundary, revealing regional and temporal features.

Contribution

It demonstrates the effective use of CryoSat2 data for mapping core field variations and secular acceleration with high spatial and temporal resolution.

Findings

Regional secular variation features identified at low latitudes.

CryoSat2 data reliably estimate secular acceleration at the CMB.

Strong secular acceleration features observed in the Pacific in 2017.

Abstract

We use 20 years of magnetic field measurements from the Oersted, CHAMP and Swarm satellite missions, supplemented by calibrated platform magnetometer data from the CryoSat2 satellite, to study time variations of the Earth's core field at satellite altitude and at the core-mantle boundary (CMB). From the satellite data we derive composite time series of the core field secular variation (SV) with 4month cadence, at 300 globally distributed Geomagnetic Virtual Observatories (GVO). GVO radial SV series display regional fluctuations with 5-10 years duration and amplitudes reaching 20 nT/yr, most notably at low latitudes over Indonesia (2014), over South America and the South Atlantic (2007, 2011 and 2014), and over the central Pacific (2017). Applying the Subtractive Optimally Localized Averages (SOLA) method, we map the SV at the CMB as a collection of locally averaged SV estimates. We demonstrate that using 2-year windows of CryoSat2 data, it is possible to reliably estimate the SV and its time derivative, the secular acceleration (SA), at the CMB, with a spatial resolution, corresponding to spherical harmonic degree 10. Along the CMB geographic equator, we find strong SA features under Indonesia from 2011-2014, under central America from 2015 to 2019, and sequences of SA with alternating sign under the Atlantic during 2004-2019. We find that data from CryoSat2 make a valuable contribution to the emerging picture of sub-decadal core field variations. Using 1 year windows of data from the Swarm satellites, it is possible to study SA changes at low latitudes on timescales down to 1 year, with spatial resolution corresponding to spherical harmonic degree 10. We find strong positive and negative SA features appearing side-by-side in the Pacific in 2017, and thereafter drift westward.