CARISMA (Canadian Array for Realtime Investigations of Magnetic Activity)

Information

The Canadian Array for Realtime Investigations of Magnetic Activity (CARISMA) is the continuation of the CANOPUS magnetometer array which ran from 1986 to 2005. The operation of the magnetometers and the collection of the data is now the responsibility of the Space Physics Group at the University of Alberta. CARISMA uses the same Narod Geophysics Ltd. S100 fluxgate magnetometers as CANOPUS did, but the data is now collected and stored locally on a data logger before being transmitted to the University of Alberta via the CGSM Information Technology Infrastructure (ITI) and satellite internet link.

Click Here CARISMA Website

Principal Investigator(s)

• Dr. Ian Mann
  imann@space.ualberta.ca

Magnetometers

The fluxgate magnetometers measure 3 components of the Earth's magnetic field in the geographic frame of reference, namely X (geographic north), Y (geographic east) and Z (vertically downward). The data is sampled at 8 Hz and the instrument's bandwidth is 0-2 Hz with an amplitude resolution of 0.025 nT. The CANOPUS data was downsampled to 5 second resolution due to bandwidth limitations. We are now able to transfer the full 8 Hz resolution data. This is downsampled to 1 Hz to form the primary data product available from the CSSDP. However, the 8 Hz data is freely available for those interested in higher frequency ULF phenomena - please contact the PI for details.

There are plans to install another 15 fluxgate magnetometers and 8 sets of induction coils as part of the CARISMA array expansion funded by CFI. The data will be made available through the CSSDP as the instruments are deployed.