This study focuses on utilizing the increasing availability of satellite trajectory data from global navigation satellite system-enabled low-Earth orbiting satellites and their precision orbit determination (POD) solutions to expand and refine thermospheric model validation capabilities. The research introduces an updated interface for the GEODYN-II POD software, leveraging high-precision space geodetic POD to investigate satellite drag and assess density models. This work presents a case study to examine five models (NRLMSIS2.0, DTM2020, JB2008, TIEGCM, and CTIPe) using precise science orbit (PSO) solutions of the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2). The PSO is used as tracking measurements to construct orbit fits, enabling an evaluation according to each model’s ability to redetermine the orbit. Relative in-track deviations, quantified by in-track residuals and root-mean-square errors (RMSe), are treated as proxies for model densities that differ from an unknown true density. The study investigates assumptions related to the treatment of the drag coefficient and leverages them to eliminate bias and effectively scale model density. Assessment results and interpretations are dictated by the timescale at which the scaling occurs. JB2008 requires the least scaling (~-23%) to achieve orbit fits closely matching the PSO within an in-track RMSe of 9 m when scaled over two weeks and 4 m when scaled daily. The remaining models require substantial scaling of the mean density offset (~30-75%) to construct orbit fits that meet the aforementioned RMSe criteria. All models exhibit slight over or under sensitivity to geomagnetic activity according to trends in their 24-hour scaling factors.

New Abstract: Many models require specialized access and interpolation schemes to effectively extract and interpolate their outputs. In particular, the Block-Adaptive Tree Solarwind Roe Upwind Scheme (BATSRUS) component of the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) requires Kamodo to take advantage of its block-based adaptive grid structure, and the Lyon-Fedder Mobarry magnetosphere model (or its successor GAMERA) needs a scheme that appreciates the distorted spherical arrangement of grid vertices on a non-orthogonal grid. With the flythrough layer developed by Ringuette et al. (SH42E-2337), the underlying model readers have been adapted to use multiple time steps in a single Python session to perform 4-dimensional interpolations in time and space. Kamodo now utilizes lazy interpolation that loads data only when needed. We present the successful integration of SWMF/BATSRUS magnetosphere access and interpolation into the new 4D Kamodo framework utilizing an external library of C code. Through function composition, Kamodo facilitates the calculation of derived quantities and the transformation of positions and vectors into different coordinate systems. This work is a significant step towards performing field line tracing in Kamodo with SWMF magnetosphere outputs.

The reproducibility crisis was sparked five years ago by a Nature survey that revealed most researchers have tried and failed to reproduce another scientist’s experiments (Baker, 2016). Although the severity of the crisis is still being debated, it has spurred researchers to include reproducibility and open science practices in their work. To that end, the Python in Heliophysics Community (PyHC) encourages members of the heliophysics community to create “executable papers,” which are interactive pieces of software that combine text, data, and code to enable readers to reproduce every step taken to arrive at a publication’s conclusions. We describe the development of an executable paper—in this case, one centered around magnetopause boundary crossings in satellite data—our coordination efforts between scientists and software developers, and the current technology that makes this possible. We aim to promote this novel paper format and be an example to the heliophysics community of how scientists and software developers can work together to produce research that is transparent and reproducible.