Online 3-D Visualization of ENA Inversions with Simultaneous In-situ Measurements

We describe the initial release of an online tool for analyzing 3-D magnetospheric particle distributions created from inversions of Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) images taken by the High Energy Neutral Analyzer (HENA) on NASA's IMAGE spacecraft from 2000 to 2005. On their own, 2-D ENA images provide a unique window into global magnetospheric dynamics during geomagnetic storms, but further physical insight into the ring current ion distributions is gained by 'inverting' the images to create 3-D energetic particle distributions. Validation of our inversions is enhanced by allowing users to makes comparisons of simultaneously measured in-situ data (from Cluster, primarily) with inversion results. While the ultimate goal of our tool is to allow users to perform custom inversions on arbitrary time periods, the initial release presents a collection of pre-created inversions for different geomagnetic storms. Users may also compare a measured ENA image with a simulated image, where the simulated image is obtained by passing the 3-D inversion through a forward model. This comparison is a useful and necessary step in gauging the validity of the inversion process. The tool will be available online at http://sd-www/jhuapl.edu/HENA and will eventually be applied to other ENA datasets including TWINS and potentially the EAGLES mission. The ultimate goal of this effort is to bring to the wider Heliospheric science community the global magnetospheric perspective offered by ENA imaging.