Swarm's absolute magnetometer experimental vector mode, an innovative capability for space magnetometry

European Space Agency’s Swarm satellites carry a new generation of 4He absolute magnetometers (ASM), designed by CEA-Leti and developed in partnership with Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales. These instruments are the first ever spaceborne magnetometers to use a common sensor to simultaneously deliver 1 Hz independent absolute scalar and vector readings of the magnetic field. Since launch, these ASMs provided very high-accuracy scalar field data, as nominally required for the mission, together with experimental vector field data. Here we compare geomagnetic field models built from such ASM-only data with models built from the mission’s nominal 1 Hz data, combining ASM scalar data with independent fluxgate magnetometer vector data. The high level of agreement between these models demonstrates the potential of the ASM’s vector mode for data quality control and as a stand-alone magnetometer and illustrates the way the evolution of key field features can easily be monitored from space with such absolute vector magnetometers