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THEMIS Ground Based Observatory System Design

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Book cover The THEMIS Mission

Abstract

The comprehensive THEMIS approach to solving the substorm problem calls for monitoring the nightside auroral oval with low-cost, robust white-light imagers and magnetometers that can deliver high time resolution data (0.33 and 2 Hz, respectively). A network of 20 Ground-Based Observatories (GBOs) are deployed across Canada and Alaska to support the collection of data from these instruments. Here we describe the system design of the observatory, with emphasis on how the design meets the environmental and data-collection requirements. We also review the design of the All Sky Imager (ASI), discuss how it was built to survive Arctic deployments, and summarize the optical characterizations performed to qualify the design to meet THEMIS mission requirements.

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, 7 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA, 94720-7450, USA

    S. E. Harris, S. B. Mende, V. Angelopoulos & W. Rachelson

  2. University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. N.W., Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    E. Donovan, B. Jackel & M. Greffen

  3. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    C. T. Russell, D. R. Pierce, D. J. Dearborn & K. Rowe

  4. Athabasca University, 1 University Dr., Athabasca, AB, T9S 3A3, Canada

    M. Connors

Authors
  1. S. E. Harris
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  2. S. B. Mende
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  3. V. Angelopoulos
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  4. W. Rachelson
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  5. E. Donovan
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  6. B. Jackel
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  7. M. Greffen
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  8. C. T. Russell
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  9. D. R. Pierce
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  10. D. J. Dearborn
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  11. K. Rowe
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  12. M. Connors
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. E. Harris .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Space Science and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), San Antonio, TX, USA

    J. L. Burch

  2. Department of Earth and Space Sciences, and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    V. Angelopoulos

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© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, BV

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Harris, S.E. et al. (2009). THEMIS Ground Based Observatory System Design. In: Burch, J.L., Angelopoulos, V. (eds) The THEMIS Mission. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89820-9_10

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