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Conditions in near-Earth space are dominated by solar activity.
Solar astronomers have monitored that activity for decades and
have found that the size and number of dark
spots on the Sun are a good indicator of the frequency and
intensity of explosive events like solar flares. Flares are eruptions
in the solar atmosphere fueled by the intense magnetic fields
that accompany sunspots.
Solar activity follows an 11-year cycle as shown in the plot
above. The space environment monitored by GOES is much more disturbed
during the years of high sunspot numbers than during sunspot minimum.
The most common pattern displayed by a solar event begins with
an X-ray burst. If conditions are right on the sun, this may be
followed closely by a particle event.
The daily particle plots, however, show the background levels
drop during solar maximum. This is due to the disturbed interplanetary
magnetic field disrupting the flow of galactic ions - particles
from deep space.
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GOES particle sensor daily values 01/86-12/99
without E1 and I1. (PDF)
Satellite Anomalies:
Documentation for Anomaly tables (text).
Anomaly report summary, by satellite (text).
Anomaly table (sans TDRS-1) (Excel Spreadsheet)
TDRS-1 SEU table (Excel Spreadsheet)
TDRS-1 Single Event Upsets and the Effect of the Space Environment, IEEE T-NS/38/6/07133
Various Satellite Anomly Plots:
TDRS-1 SEUs and the Space Weather Climatology
-- 1986-1993 (PDF) (10/23/98 ver.)
TDRS-1 SEUs Vs. GOES Protons, scatter plot
-- 1986-1993 (PDF) (10/26/98 ver.)
GOES surface charging anomalies and the Magnetospheric
Specification Model. (PDF)
GOES Seasonal and Local Time
Anomaly Trends (Excel)
SEM plot showing TELSTAR-401 anomaly
-- 1/7/97-1/15/97. (GIF)
Geographic location of computer upsets on select
Space Shuttle missions. (PDF)
Onboard memory upsets from UOSAT-2 (University of Surrey Satellite)
cluster about the SAA (South Atlantic Anomaly). (Small
GIF 1028x678 pixels, Large GIF for printing
3058x2017 pixels)
Electron plot with anomalies -- 1/94-2/95.
(PDF)
Electron plot with anomalies -- 1/96-2/97.
(PDF)
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