Changes in sea-level pressure over South Korea associated with high-speed solar wind events

We explore a possibility that the daily sea-level pressure (SLP) over South Korea responds to the high-speed solar wind event. This is of interest in two aspects: first, if there is a statistical association this can be another piece of evidence showing that various meteorological observables indeed respond to variations in the interplanetary environment. Second, this can be a very crucial observational constraint since most models proposed so far are expected to preferentially work in higher latitude regions than the low latitude region studied here. We have examined daily solar wind speed V, daily SLP difference ΔSLP, and daily log(BV²) using the superposed epoch analysis in which the key date is set such that the daily solar wind speed exceeds 800 km s⁻¹. We find that the daily ΔSLP averaged out of 12 events reaches its peak at day +1 and gradually decreases back to its normal level. The amount of positive deviation of ΔSLP is +2.5 hPa. The duration of deviation is a few days. We also find that ΔSLP is well correlated with both the speed of solar wind and log(BV²). The obtained linear correlation coefficients and chance probabilities with one-day lag for two cases are r ? 0.81 with P > 99.9%, and r ? 0.84 with P > 99.9%, respectively. We conclude by briefly discussing future direction to pursue.     

Data Processing at KAGUYA Operation and Analysis Center

The functions of KAGUYA(SELENE) Operation and Analysis Center (SOAC) are to operate three satellites: the main orbiter KAGUYA and two small satellites, Relay satellite OKINA and VRAD (VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) RADio source) satellite OUNA; and to process, archive and provide mission data. SOAC has two main functional areas, “Tracking and Control system” and “Mission Operation and Data Analysis system.” The former is for operational planning of bus and mission instruments including satellite navigation, and for the implementation of those plans and for the evaluation of satellite conditions. The latter is the system that processes, archives and provides mission data, and which principal investigators use to generate higher-level data products. Data up to the end of the operation in June 2009 have been processed and the total amount of Level-2 data products reaches about 50 TB. The data products have been released to the public since November 2009.