EUSO-SPB1 was a balloon-borne mission of the JEM-EUSO (Joint Experiment Missions for Ex-treme Universe Space Observatory) Program aiming at the ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) observationsfrom space. We operated the EUSO-SPB1 telescope consisting of 1 m2Fresnel refractive optics and multi-anode photomultiplier tubes. With a total of 2304 channels, each performed the photon counting every 2.5 s,allowing for spatiotemporal imaging of the air shower events in an 11◦ 11◦field of view. EUSO-SPB1was the first balloon-borne fluorescence detector with a potential to detect air shower events initiated by theEeV energy cosmic rays. On 24 April 2017 UTC, EUSO-SPB1 was launched on the NASA’s Super PressureBalloon that flew at 16 – 33 km flight height for 12 days. Before the flight was terminated, 27 hours ofdata acquired in the air shower detection mode were transmitted to the ground. In the present work, we aim atevaluating the role of the clouds during the operation of EUSO-SPB1. We employ the WRF (Weather Researchand Forecasting) model to numerically simulate the cloud distribution below EUSO-SPB1. We discuss the keyresults of the WRF model and the impact of the clouds on the air shower measurement and the efficiency of thecosmic ray observation. The present work is a part of the collaborative effort to estimate the exposure for airshower detections.
Cloud distribution evaluated by the WRF model during the EUSO-SPB1 flight
BRUNO, ALESSANDRO;
2019-01-01
Abstract
EUSO-SPB1 was a balloon-borne mission of the JEM-EUSO (Joint Experiment Missions for Ex-treme Universe Space Observatory) Program aiming at the ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) observationsfrom space. We operated the EUSO-SPB1 telescope consisting of 1 m2Fresnel refractive optics and multi-anode photomultiplier tubes. With a total of 2304 channels, each performed the photon counting every 2.5 s,allowing for spatiotemporal imaging of the air shower events in an 11◦ 11◦field of view. EUSO-SPB1was the first balloon-borne fluorescence detector with a potential to detect air shower events initiated by theEeV energy cosmic rays. On 24 April 2017 UTC, EUSO-SPB1 was launched on the NASA’s Super PressureBalloon that flew at 16 – 33 km flight height for 12 days. Before the flight was terminated, 27 hours ofdata acquired in the air shower detection mode were transmitted to the ground. In the present work, we aim atevaluating the role of the clouds during the operation of EUSO-SPB1. We employ the WRF (Weather Researchand Forecasting) model to numerically simulate the cloud distribution below EUSO-SPB1. We discuss the keyresults of the WRF model and the impact of the clouds on the air shower measurement and the efficiency of thecosmic ray observation. The present work is a part of the collaborative effort to estimate the exposure for airshower detections.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
