SOHO SPWG Minutes



SPWG FINAL MINUTES
Friday 27 August 2004

1. Boundary conditions


- SOHO is now upside down until the the next manoeuvre, which is
  scheduled for 21 September. The manoeuvre will include a momentum
  management and a roll. The latest orbit determinations indicate that
  the previous station keeping was almost dead on, meaning that a
  station keeping is not needed for this manoeuvre! It appears that at
  this time the halo energy is more finely tuned than at any time in
  the entire history of the mission.  The manoeuvre for the December
  keyhole is tentatively scheduled for 21 December.

- The scheduling windows for the next 2 keyhole periods are given
  below.  For estimated keyhole dates through 2006 see
  http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/keyholes.txt

* Dec 13        High Rate on 26m stations ends, TBC
* Dec 16        High Rate on 34m stations ends, TBC
* Dec 26        High Rate on 34m stations resumes, TBC
* Dec 29        High Rate on 26m stations resumes, TBC

* Mar 05 	High Rate on 26m stations ends, TBC
* Mar 10	High Rate on 34m stations ends, TBC
* Mar 24	High Rate on 34m stations resumes, TBC
* Mar 29	High Rate on 26m stations resumes, TBC

- Long-term DSN outlook: The Mars missions may last through the end of
  the year. Expect keyhole schedules similar to the last/next one as
  long as they are operational.

  The long-term scheduling for 2005 and 2006 indicates that there will
  be very substantial losses of normal VC0/1 during most keyholes, but
  we hope that the SSR patch (see below) will be available to capture
  GOLF, VIRGO and MDI structure with no interruptions.

- Work on an on-board patch for recording only selected APIDs
  (e.g. GOLF, VIRGO, MDI and spacecraft housekeeping data) on the SSR
  is progressing. Several informal deliveries have been received. The
  delivery has completed formal testing at Saab-Ericsson Space and
  informal testing here using the spacecraft simulator. So far the
  results look promising, but some minor glitches have been
  identified.

  The formal delivery is not expected until the end of August at the
  earliest. We will use the results from our simulator tests to
  prepare the commissioning tests using the spacecraft. The goal is to
  minimize the needed spacecraft time.  Right now it is too early to
  tell if we can use the patch during the September keyhole.

  Uploading the patch is a very simple and short task, and should fit
  within a normal SVM period.

- The September keyhole DSN schedule is at:
  
    http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/keyhole.sep04
  
  With only two short 70m passes during the two-week period on the
  LGA, it is one of the worst keyholes so far. Without the recording
  patch, it will not be possible to ensure continuous data for both
  GOLF and VIRGO. Even when optimizing only for GOLF, the recording
  capacity is 137 minutes short of what is required. This also means
  that there can be no contingency plans made for ground station
  problems.

  If the patch is in place, there should be no problems in making sure
  GOLF and VIRGO have at least one level of data redundancy. Due to
  the paucity of 70m stations, however, it will still be impossible to
  record MDI's VC1 data for the whole period.

- Unless a Major Flare Watch is in progress, TRACE will be doing full
  disk mosaics if/when EIT is not able to do synoptic sets due to
  keyhole operations.

- MDI continuous contacts

* Jul 4-Sep 5   MDI 60 Day Continuous Contact (Full Disk Mags and Doppler)
* Nov 3-7       MDI Continuous Contact
* Dec 1-5       MDI Continuous Contact

  The baseline plans are as stated above, and other types of
  observations are not likely for these time periods even if requested
  for collaborations. As usual, 96 minute magnetograms will be
  available.

* Nov 22        SWT meeting at GSFC

- ALL KNOWN submode dependent activities & submode schedule:

* TOO           JOP175 Extended Filaments at the Limb (see sect. 2a)
* Oct 18-24     SUMER mini-campaign, TBC (was planned around old MEDOC dates)
* Nov 8-21      MEDOC #14 Submode 5, change times TBD
* Nov 22-28     SUMER mini-campaign, TBC, and conflict w/EIT shutterless below
* Nov 24        EIT Shutterless, 14:00-16:40 UT, TRACE has conflict w/JOP173
* Nov 30        EIT Shutterless, 17:00-19:40 UT

  NOTE: MEDOC 14 has now been scheduled for November 8-20.  SUMER has
  been planning a 1-week mini-campaign in conjunction with the MEDOC
  campaign (most likely the week after). This was originally planned
  with the old MEDOC dates, so the dates are now TBD.

  Submodes: Submode 6 except for Nov 8-21 MEDOC campaign (change times
  TBD), and possibly a SUMER mini-campaign either the following week
  (but EIT's shutterless on November 24 must be in Submode 6), or
  the week after the original MEDOC dates, i.e. October 18-24.

- EIT Bakeout/Other (shutterless obs listed under "Submode dependent
  activities"):

* Sep 10-Oct 3  EIT Bakeout

  NOTE: EIT Bakeout during this keyhole has been shortened.  This is due
  to a reduction in pre-/post-bakeout calibrations. 

* Commanding outlook: See AOB section.

2. Priorities for the coming month & more


a) Joint observing plans and campaigns

Continuing campaigns:

*               JOP136 Default RHESSI Collaborations (#6850), POC:Stein Haugan
*               Default CDS Co-observations with TRACE (#6950)
*               JOP153/MMOP003 Future Major Flare Watch (#8000)
*               JOP159 CMEs in Lyman-alpha (#6870), SWAN/LASCO/EIT/UVCS,
                  POC: Chris St Cyr, Eric Quemerais
* Feb-Sep 2004  Quiescent AR Loop Diagnostics (#7019), CDS/TRACE/EIT/SUMER,
                  POC: Helen Mason (h.e.mason@damtp.cam.ac.uk),
                  Local POC: CDS Planner
*               JOP175 Extended Filaments at the Limb, EIT/TRACE/LASCO/UVCS,
                  POC: Chris St Cyr (Chris.StCyr@nasa.gov)
*               Network-Internetwork Oscillations (#7033), EIT/TRACE,
                  POC: Scott McIntosh

  Campaign #6850 is for "individual instrument studies" selecting an
  AR target [partially] influenced by the Max Millennium target
  selection to maximise chances of serendipitous co-observations.

  The running of the Quiescent AR Loops is left to the decision of the
  CDS planner.

  EIT supports all with half/full-res 195 Å CME watch in submode 5/6,
  except JOP175 getting half/full-res 304 Å CME watch in submode 5/6,
  and Network-Internetwork Oscillations which is TBD by Scott McIntosh.

* Jul 4-Sep 5   MDI 60 Day Continuous Contact (Full Disk Mags and Doppler)

  The first 30 days of the CC looked really good.  See the following
  links for high rate data coverage plots for the 60 day CC thus far:

  http://soi.stanford.edu/production/cov.html
  http://soi.stanford.edu/production/coverage/july_2004.html
  http://soi.stanford.edu/production/coverage/august_2004.html

* Aug 24-Sep 5  Fe XV Opacity Study (#7077), CDS/EIT, POC: Ryan Milligan

  Will be coordinated with EIT synoptic 284 Å images.

* Sep 10-Oct 3  EIT Bakeout

* Sep 11-16     Faraday Rotation Measurements, UVCS/LASCO/Mars Express, 
                  POC: Mari Paz Miralles, TBC

  Mari Paz will have more details coming up regarding requesting
  the support of LASCO.

* Sep 12        High Rate on 26m stations ends, TBC
* Sep 17        High Rate on 34m stations ends, TBC
* Oct 01        High Rate on 34m stations resumes, TBC
* Oct 05        High Rate on 26m stations resumes, TBC

  See Section 1 for details.

* Oct 5-19      JOP178 Filament and its Environment,
                  CDS/MDI/EIT/TRACE/THEMIS/SST/DOT/DST/Meudon/Pic du Midi/
                  Bialkov/Ondrejov,
                  POC: Brigitte Schmieder (Brigitte.Schmieder@obspm.fr) &
                  Thierry Roudier (roudier@bigorre.bagn.obs-mip.fr)
                  

  Alternate target-of-opportunity study for part of the JOP178 run:

* Oct 15-19     JOP157 Bright points in ARs, EIT/CDS/MDI/TRACE/RHESSI,
                  POC: Brigitte Schmieder (Brigitte.Schmieder@obspm.fr)

  MDI confirms support, will provide 1 minute, High Resolution
  Magnetograms, Filtergrams and Dopplergrams if the target is in the
  HRFOV, Full Disk Magnetograms and Dopplergrams if target is outside
  the HRFOV, when MDI high rate is available. Extra DSN time has been
  requested and coverage should be good.

  EIT can support the request for some 304, though exact dates will be
  decided closer to that time.

  It is important for CDS that study names and the detailed observing
  sequence are provided well in advance of the observation.

  TRACE has this on their calendar as: Oct 5-15 for JOP178 and Oct 12-19
  for JOP012(157).

* Oct 14        Partial Solar Eclipse, TRACE

  It is too early to determine the impact of the partial eclipse on
  TRACE's observations.

* Oct 18-24     SUMER mini-campaign, TBC (was planned around old MEDOC dates)

* Oct 18-23     JOP179 Energy Propagation in XBPs, CDS/EIT/MDI/Hida,
                  POC: Tetsuya Watanabe (WATANABE@uvlab.mtk.nao.ac.jp), TBC

  Note: This is a draft JOP only. CDS & MDI sequences are not specified.

  MDI has not received a specific request for this JOP.  Until we hear
  otherwise, they will get whatever MDI happens to be running at the
  time (most likely 1 min Full Disk Magnetograms and Dopplergrams along
  with 96 min Synoptic FD Magnetograms).

* Oct 20-Nov 1  Coordination with La Palma, TRACE/La Palma,
                  POC: Mats Carlsson (mats.carlsson@astro.uio.no)

* Oct 24-Nov 5  Blinker Study, CDS/MDI/Sac Peak(TBC), 
                  POC: Hardi Peter (peter@kis.uni-freiburg.de) and
                  Alexandra Tritschler (ali@kis.uni-freiburg.de)

  MDI can most likely support this at least until the continuous contact
  starts (see below), at which point it is a question of what is
  reuested versus the plan for the continuous contact.

* Nov 3-7       MDI Continuous Contact

  No specific details yet, the default plan is 1 minute Full Disk
  Magnetograms and Dopplergrams.

* Nov 23-Dec 2  JOP173 3D Structure and Dynamics of Sunspots, 07:00-22:00 UT,
                  TRACE/MDI/VTT/THEMIS/La Palma SST/DOT/DST/MST,
                  POC: Karin Muglach (muglach@nrl.navy.mil)

  MDI confirms support of JOP173.  We will provide 1 minute, High
  Resolution Magnetograms, Dopplergrams and Filtergrams if the JOP173
  target is within the HRFOV and will provide 1 minute Full Disk
  Magnetograms and Dopplergrams if the target is not within the MDI
  HRFOV.

  TRACE still has this listed as TBC. There's a conflict for TRACE
  with the EIT Shutterless November 24. The status of this conflict
  will be worked out when the TRACE program for JOP173 has been worked
  out - there may be a mutual benefit between the two campaigns.

* Nov 8-21      MEDOC #14 Submode 5, change times TBD
* Nov 22-28     SUMER mini-campaign, TBC, and conflict w/EIT shutterless below

* Nov 24        EIT Shutterless, 14:00-16:40 UT
* Nov 30        EIT Shutterless, 17:00-19:40 UT

* Dec 1-5       MDI Continuous Contact

  No specific plans yet, but for continuity, the default plan is to
  continue with whatever mode is selected for the JOP173 run.

* Dec 13        High Rate on 26m stations ends, TBC
* Dec 16        High Rate on 34m stations ends, TBC
* Dec 26        High Rate on 34m stations resumes, TBC
* Dec 29        High Rate on 26m stations resumes, TBC

b) Intercalibration activities

  Last Intercal 1: August 5 (Week 32)

* Week 36/37       ICAL01, CDS/EIT, POC: EIT and CDS planners

  Note: Week 36 has EIT shutterless on Wednesday, Week 37 has EIT starting
  bakeout on Friday.

c) Individual instrument plans

MDI:

  See section 1 (boundary conditions) for MDI continuous contact
  periods.

  MDI will continue to downlink Magnetograms via the 5k telemetry
  stream during Keyholes, as long as the SSR/TR patch is not complete.
  Once the SSR/TR patch is complete [SOC NOTE: and can be used to
  ensure near-continuous medium-l data] MDI will likely downlink a
  Magnetogram in the 5k telemetry stream 3 times per day in addition
  to having near-continuous medium-l data.  MDI will not store
  Magnetograms on board during this time, thus the normal vc2obs
  campaign that dumps stored Magnetograms will not be used, should we
  get VC2 at any time during the Keyhole.

  All requests for MDI support need to be made several months ahead of
  time and sent to mdi-ops@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.

UVCS:
  See their planning page (below) and the SOHO calendar for weekly plans.
  http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/uvcs/observations/obst.html

  The following are listed because of NRT requirements or as candidates
  for collaboration (with e.g. CDS):

* Aug 30-Sep 2  UVCS Observations of North Coronal Hole
* Sep 3-10      UVCS Streamer Study
* Sep 11-16     UVCS Faraday Rotation Measurements 
                 (a campaign with Mars Express S/C, and LASCO)

  UVCS will be put in a safe configuration on Sep.16 for the 
  September keyhole.

CDS:
  See their request diary for details:
    http://solg2.bnsc.rl.ac.uk/scientificops/request.shtml

* Oct 24-Nov 5  Blinker Study, CDS/MDI/Sac Peak(TBC), 
                  POC: Hardi Peter (peter@kis.uni-freiburg.de) and
                  Alexandra Tritschler (ali@kis.uni-freiburg.de)

LASCO/EIT:

  Increased Cadence to 6 hr with C2 and C3 pB imaging during Keyhole #6:
  CME in C3 pB.  More TBC on duration and timings.

SUMER:

  See note about MEDOC campaign in section 1.  Details on a He
  abundance study (to be run during or after the MEDOC campaign) is
  available on request from SOCs. Note: Since the MEDOC campaign
  was moved to November, the timing for this is uncertain.

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.

3. AOB


* Next SPWG: Friday 24 September, right after weekly meeting in the EOF.

The rest are FYI items:

* If anyone has projects that require high-cadence 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.

* Commanding outlook:

  Continuous contact ends on September 5. The keyhole begins on 
  September 12. Commanding will be very tight during the keyhole.