Sun  ID: 2863

ViSBARD: The Wind from the Sun

Visualizations by Tom Bridgman Released on December 3, 2003
The ViSBARD (Visual System for Browsing, Analysis, and Retrieval of Data) analysis package has an option to propagate measurements carried by the solar wind. In this visualization created from ViSBARD screenshots, three spacecraft ahead of the Earth's bow shock measure the magnetic field as it is carried by the solar wind towards the Earth. Their positions as projected according to the flow speed are noted with the small glyph (Wind = yellow, Geotail = blue, IMP-8 = green). The spacecraft actually move very little over the time interval shown, but a spatial picture emerges when we use a knowledge of the wind velocity to spread the vectors out according to how they flowed past the point of observation. Arrows on the satellite glyphs indicate the magnitude and direction of the magnetic field while the color also represents the intensity (red being the highest, blue the lowest). As the wind flows, we can rapidly obtain information on the extended geometry of convected structures. The wire-frame at the left is a representation of the Earth's bow shock (about 100 Earth radii across in what is shown) that shows where the Sun's magnetic field would begin to be affected by that the Earth. (The effect of the interaction is not shown.)
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ViSBARD can propagate satellite measurements of the magnetic field as the field is carried earthward by the solar wind.
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Projecting spacecraft field measurements along the solar wind reveals structure in the flow.

Visualization Credits

Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Animator
Aaron Roberts (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, and Ryan Boller (NASA/GSFC)

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/2863

Missions:
Geotail
Wind

Data Used:
Geotail
1996-04-14T05:36:56 - 1996-04-14T20:52:15
view all stories where this data set is used
IMP-8
1996-04-14T05:36:56 - 1996-04-14T20:52:15
view all stories where this data set is used
Wind
1996-04-14T05:36:56 - 1996-04-14T20:52:15
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
ViSBARD

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Magnetosphere
SVS >> Solar Wind
DLESE >> Space science
SVS >> ViSBARD
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions
SVS >> For Educators
NASA Science >> Sun

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0