OPERATIONS
Science Operations
FINAL MINUTES FOR SOHO 30 Nov 2007 SPWG MEETING
1. Boundary conditions
1. Boundary conditions
a) Orbit, attitude and manoeuvres
- SOHO is in upside down roll (180 deg) position
- manoeuvres
To the degree possible, manoeuvres take place during the last days of
34-m keyholes. Currently no future manoeuvre dates are fixed, but the
manoeuvres are expected to be on weeks beginning 18 Feb 2008 (separate
roll) and 12 May 2008 (roll, station-keeping and momentum management
together) --- both TBC.
b) Communications with the spacecraft
Graphical DSN schedule: http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/dsn/
Keyhole dates for the next 6 months:
* Feb 4-Mar 2 26 m keyhole
* Feb 11-24 34 m keyhole
* May 7-25 26 m keyhole
* May 11-21 34 m keyhole
- The need and approach to reduce FOT manpower requirements needed for
complex operations during the keyhole remains in effect until further
notice.
All available keyhole information is at
http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/keyholes.html. Direct link to the list of
estimated dates for future keyholes is
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/keyholes.txt.
c) KNOWN submode (SM) dependent activities/submode changes:
* TOO JOP153/MMOP003 Future Major Flare Watch (SM5 if SUMER
observes target, SM6 otherwise)
* Jan 23, 30 EIT shutterless #30 (SM6)
* Apr 9,16 EIT Shutterless #31 (SM6)
* Apr 21-May 8 SUMER Campaign, TBD (SM5)
* Jul 23,30 EIT Shutterless #32 (SM6)
- Some of the default SUMER campaign dates overlap with keyholes - which is
not a problem in itself (submode 5 will often be needed for keyholes
anyhow) as long as potential periods of no SUMER data between passes can
be accepted.
- Except for Major Flare Watches, TRACE will be doing full disk mosaics
if/when EIT is not able to do synoptic sets due to keyhole operations.
d) Instrument maintenance activities
EIT bakeout periods will be during keyholes. Dates and times are defined
when the DSN schedules become available.
e) Others
TRACE winter eclipse season is 13 Sep 2007 - 13 Mar 2008. Hard eclipses
started on 23 Sep 2007.
Unattended automated night passes for SOHO began October 6 2007.
2. Priorities for the coming month and more
a) Joint observing plans and campaigns
Continuing campaigns:
* 2002/02/25-- JOP136 Default RHESSI Collaborations (#6850),
POC: Tero Siili
* 2003/05/13-- Default CDS Co-observations with TRACE (#6950)
* 2005/09/20-- JOP153/MMOP003 Future Major Flare Watch (#8008)
* 2007/03/20-- Default CDS/Hinode-EIS co-observations (#7200)
Campaign #6850 is for "individual instrument studies" selecting an active
region target [partially] influenced by the Max Millennium target
selection to maximise chances of serendipitous co-observations.
EIT supports all with half/full-res 195 A CME watch in submode 5/6. It is
clear that STEREO-EUVI provides adequate "context" information for RHESSI
flare observations. Routine EIT submode and resolution switches are
probably no longer needed.
* Dec 2--->2008 Exceptional Ulysses Quadrature (ends May 28, 2008)
* Dec 3-16 CIP57, Solar Minimum Watching with Italian SINERGIES,
UVCS. POC: Daniele Telloni and Ester Antonucci
CIP = (International Heliophysical Year) Co-ordinated Investigation
Program
See also http://www.ukssdc.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ihy/cip-filter.pl#57
* Dec 3-Feb 3 MDI 60-day Continuous Contact
The default observing campaign will be 1-min cadence full-disk
Magnetograms/Dopplergrams (p30vr_fd_m1 - 1100) with the exception of high
resolution observing for a helioseismology study with Hinode 3-6 Dec
2007.
* Dec 17-23 Ulysses-SOHO Quadrature Observations, UVCS/Ulysses,
POC: Alessandro Bemporad and Giannina Poletto
* Jan 23,30 EIT Shutterless #30
* Mar 3-May 4 MDI 60-day Continuous Contact
This may be rescheduled. The MDI team would like to be apprised of any
rescheduling and/or potential new dates as soon as possible.
* Mar 20-Apr 16 Whole Heliosphere Interval (WHI) Campaign,
CDS/CELIAS/COSTEP/EIT/LASCO/MDI/UVCS/TRACE(TBC),
POC: Sarah Gibson, TBD
The current thinking is that this set of campaigns (associated with the
International Heliospheric Year - IHY) will be structured as multiple
JOPs, but be centrally coordinated in the same fashion as the Aug 2007
run of JOP194.
The tentative JOP titles and timings are:
Mar 20-26: JOP 201 Linking the Corona to the Solar Wind at
Ulysses, LASCO/UVCS/Hinode-EIS/Hinode-SOT/Hinode-XRT/
TRACE/EISCAT/HSO/IPS/Ooty (POC: G. Poletto, URL
http://web.hao.ucar.edu/~sgibson/WHI/WHI-HOLEULYSSES.html)
Mar 27-Apr 2: JOP 202 Origin of the Slow Solar Wind/Streamer Study
CDS/LASCO/UVCS/Geotail/Hinode-XRT/TRACE/Ulysses/EISCAT/
Nagoya/Nancay/OOTY (POC: Strachan, URL
http://web.hao.ucar.edu/~sgibson/WHI/WHI_Slow_Wind.html)
Apr 3-9: JOP 203 Coronal Hole Boundary (POC: DeForest, pending)
Apr 10-16: JOP 204 Characterizing the energetics and dynamics of
the quiet Sun, CDS/EIT/MDI/SUMER(TBD)/UVCS/Hinode-EIS/
Hinode-SOT/Hinode-XRT/STEREO-SECCHI/STEREO-EUVI/TRACE/
HSO-COMP/HSO-MOTH/NSO-IBIS/NSO-SPINOR (POC: S. McIntosh,
URL http://web.hao.ucar.edu/~sgibson/WHI/WHI-QS.html)
Targets of Opportunity (ToO) JOPs are:
ToO-1: JOP 205 Active Regions, EIT/MDI/Hinode-EIS/Hinode-SOT/
Hinode-XRT/STEREO-COR1/STEREO-COR2/STEREO-EUVI/RHESSI/STEREO-HI/
STEREO-SECCHI/TRACE/Nancay/SMEI (POC: Leamon, URL
http://web.hao.ucar.edu/~sgibson/WHI/WHI-TOO_AR.html)
ToO-2: JOP 206 Low-latitude coronal holes, CDS(TBD)/CELIAS(TBD)/
COSTEP/LASCO(TBD)/MDI(TBD)/SUMER/UVCS/ACE-SWICS/Hinode-EIS/
Hinode-SOT(TBD)/Hinode-XRT/STEREO-PLASTIC/STEREO-SECCHI(TBD)/
STEREO-SEPT/TRACE/Ulysses-KET/Ulysses-SWICS/MLSO-MK4(TBD)/
NSO-SOLIS(TBD)/Ooty/STELAB-IPS (POC: Miralles, URL
http://web.hao.ucar.edu/~sgibson/WHI/WHI-TOO_EQHOLE.html)
ToO-3: ToO JOP 194 Activity in filaments and filament channels (POC:
Gibson, URL
http://web.hao.ucar.edu/~sgibson/CIP21/topcampaign.html)
If a ToO JOP is run, the week's regularly scheduled JOP would also be
run, but for a reduced time.
JOP descriptions for all others except for the "Coronal hole boundary"
JOP have been received and they will be put on the web (see
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/JOPs/) immediately after this SWPG.
UVCS will support.
TRACE has received a request to support.
MDI can provide data for this, but MDI may be in another 60-day
Continuous Contact, hence can only provide 1 minute full disk
Magnetograms and Dopplergrams and 96 minute synoptic Magnetograms and 96
minute synoptic Continuum images when we have high rate. High-res
observations would be very unlikely. MDI hasn't gotten any further
information or spectific requests from Sarah Gibson about this.
CDS will participate. As requested, the relevant JOP descriptions have
been forwarded to the CDS team.
SUMER has plans to (partly) participate in the WHI activities (SUMER
campaign dates remain TBD and MAY overlap with the WHI).
* Apr 9,16 EIT Shutterless #31
* Apr 21-May 16 SUMER Campaign, TBC
There are plans to (partly) participate in the WHI activities. See also
section 2c.
* Jun 11-15 MDI Continuous Contact
The default campaign will be full disk Magnetograms and Dopplergrams.
* Jul 9-13 MDI Continuous Contact
The default campaign will be full disk Magnetograms and Dopplergrams.
* Jul 23,30 EIT Shutterless #32
b) Intercalibration activities
Last Intercal 1: 18 October 2007
* Dec 5 ICAL01 (#7113), CDS/EIT/Hinode-EIS
* Week 52 or 01 ICAL01 (#7113), CDS/EIT/Hinode-EIS, TBC
Possible EIS collaboration. CDS views Hinode-EIS participation as
extremely important. EIS and Stereo have been added to the Campaign
#7113 description.
Details and confirmation will be determined by the planners.
EIT: ICALs are OK except (usually) during the weeks of shutterless ---
whenever CDS prefers.
c) Individual instrument plans
MDI:
See section 2a for MDI continuous contact periods.
MDI may reduce the ALT cadence during Keyholes to be less than 15 ALT
magnetograms per day if the lack of high rate telemetry is such that we
will lose all or almost all of the 15 ALT Magnetograms each day. The ALT
cadence will be decided on an individual Keyhole basis and even a daily
basis during each Keyhole depending on the 70 m antenna availability at
the time. MDI may also downlink select magnetograms in the 5 kbps
telemetry if no 70 m passes are available at least every 2 days for Mag
dump in the 160 kbps telemetry.
All requests for MDI support need to be made several months ahead of time
and sent to mdi-ops(at)mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov. Even outside keyholes,
MDI can only do 1-minute cadence observations when we have contact and
there is no recorder dump in progress.
MDI's REQUEST page is at http://mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov/coordination.txt
NOTE: Listing of a study on that page means *only* that a request has
been received, not that it will necessarily be supported.
A description of MDI Observing Modes most used for JOPs and campaigns (FD
vs. HR) can be found at http://mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov/Collaborate.
Anyone requesting MDI observations is encouraged to read this page in
order to have a better idea of what observing modes would be best suited
for a particular study. More detailed information about how MDI
operates, observational constraints and telemetry information can be
found at http://mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov/MDI_Collaboration_Details.
MDI is back in Focus 5 for best focus for FD observing and will stay
there at least until March 2008.
UVCS:
We have been using the LyA detector for some observations and will keep
planning so when appropriate.
For weekly plans, see the SOHO calendar and the UVCS planning page:
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/uvcs/observations/obst.html.
--> #UVCS - changes, comments?
CDS:
For details see http://solar.bnsc.rl.ac.uk/scientificops/request.shtml.
LASCO/EIT:
EIT: 195 A CME watch plus synoptics at 6-hour cadence, as usual. Full-res
CME watch whenever we're in submode 6. Hope never to change until the
Bogart mission.
SUMER:
There are tentative plans for another 2-week long SUMER campaign from
April 21 to May 8, 2008. There are also plans for SUMER participation in
the WHI activities earlier in April. Details will be given in the
planning tool http://www.mps.mpg.de/homes/theissen/scr/planning/index.cgi
as soon as they are available.
TRACE:
NOTE that TRACE in general reserves the right to withdraw support from
agreed, existing collaborations if a sufficiently "good active region" is
called by the Max Millennium group.
For TRACE summer eclipse season see section 1e.
During our fall eclipse season that starts in October, we will accept
observing requests through November 1st. Any observations that are to
take place after November 1st will be evaluated in October once eclipse
season has started and then we will decide what makes sense for us
to support.
During the period of deepest eclipses (Nov. 16 - Feb. 15) of its winter
eclipse season, TRACE will be operated by three command loads per week
(Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays). TRACE will accept a limited number of
JOP requests, giving preference to those that involve multiple
observatories (in space and/or on the ground), provided that their
targets can be specified on a schedule that is compatible with the
reduced frequency in instrument command loads during the winter eclipse
season).
3. Any other business
* Next SPWG: Friday 18 January after daily & weekly meetings. The rest are FYI items: * If anyone has projects that require high rate (i.e. 1 minute cadence and anything other than 96 minute synoptic Magnetograms) MDI support, now is a good time to ask! If you need MDI data, make sure you request it specifically. There is no significant change in the shutter performance over the last 10 months; monitoring continues, but no immediate changes in operations are planned. * DSN support should be requested at least 6 months in advance. Keep this in mind for: ground-based collaborations that require MDI support, stellar/shutterless observations that require NRT, etc. * Future Mercury and Venus transits: SOC is requesting the Flight Dynamics Facility (FDF) to provide estimates and data for not only disk, but also for coronal transits. For this purpose FDF needs a criterion (radial/angular distance from Solar disk centre) to define the coronal transits. Currently FDF has been instructed to use SOHO/Sun/[Mercury,Venus] angle of (35 arcmin (from centre of Solar disk) as criterion. Instrument teams are requested to provide the SOC with information on whether a larger angle is applicable. * Hinode operational and planning information can be found from http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/solar/hinode_op/. For contacts with the Hinode team(s), some guidelines... General discussion of campaign plans that are evolving and are several months away should go to the Hinode instruments' science schedule coordinators (SSCs). If a single clearly primary Hinode instrument can be identified, the campaign coordinators should contact the SSC of that instrument only. The Hinode instrument planners will not be involved until the detailed pointings and such are being discussed. The SSCs for the different Hinode instruments are: EIS: Len Culhane, John Mariska, Tetsuya Watanabe SOT: Thomas Berger, Takashi Sekii XRT: Leon Golub, Kiyoto Shibasaki * STEREO operational and planning information can be found via http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/, more specifically from http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/plans.shtml. Lead time for special requests for STEREO supports should be at least a month. * The SOHO JOP/ICAL database and the web pages are now the Solar JOP/ICAL database and web pages. This is due to anticipated increased contributions by and collaborations as well as intercalibrations with STEREO and Hinode. * To provide more unambiguous identification, individual instruments on board spacecraft other than SOHO will be as of this SPWG be referred to with notation SPACECRAFT-INSTRUMENT, for example Hinode-EIS. * New JOP vs. modified existing JOP rules-of-thumb: New JOP, if/when scientifically or qualitatively new type of a coordination is set up; modified JOP, when the investigation (the foci or targets thereof) remains essentially the same but new instruments/spacecraft/GBOs/etc are brought to bear. * SOHO calendar email notifications: a new mailing list for notifications of changes in the SOHO calendar has been taken into use. Distributed changes are decided upon by the SOCs to be relevant (as opposed to corrections of typing errors, etc.). Examples are schedule changes, added and deleted campaigns and so forth. To join the list send e-mail to the SOCs.
