A DGRF 2020 candidate model only based on Swarm ASM experimental vector mode data improved through a dedicated post-calibration strategy

Abstract The ESA Swarm satellites carry a magnetometry payload consisting of an absolute scalar magnetometer (ASM), a fluxgate vector magnetometer (VFM), and a set of star trackers (STR). The primary role of the ASM is to provide 1 Hz absolute field intensity measurements, while the VFM and STR provide the additional data needed to reconstruct the attitude of the vector field and produce the official nominal Swarm L1b magnetic data. Each ASM instrument, however, can be run in an experimental mode to simultaneously produce its own self-calibrated 1 Hz vector data. Such 1 Hz experimental vector data have been routinely produced ever since launch on Swarm Alpha and Bravo, except during one-week periods every month when the burst mode was activated in yet another experimental mode to produce 250 Hz scalar data. These 1 Hz experimental vector data have been used to produce the only Definitive Geomagnetic Reference Field (DGRF) 2020 candidate model only relying on such data. All other candidate models relied on either nominal Swarm L1b data or data from other satellites and ground observatories. In this paper, we report on the way we built our DGRF candidate model and on the post-calibration strategy that we used to identify and remediate a calibration issue found in both the ASM and VFM vector data. We show that this post-calibration improves the quality of the data and contributes to also improving our DGRF candidate model. Our final candidate model, only based on post-calibrated ASM data, turns out to be one of the DGRF 2020 candidate models closest to the final official DGRF model, a posteriori providing evidence of both the quality of the Swarm ASM experimental vector mode data and the value of our post-calibration strategy. This post-calibration strategy could be used to improve magnetic data from other past, present, or future missions. Graphical abstract