SIDC Preview - User Manual

Model selector

The Model selector allows the selection of various parameters to filter and search for a specific model in the database. Here's a breakdown of its components:

Dropdown Menus:

Campaign Selector: Choose between "CME" or "Daily" campaigns. The selected option determines which models are scanned from the database.
Variable Selector: Select the variable to display. Options include:

Radial Velocity
Mass Density
Magnetic Field

Heliospheric Object Selector: Identify the object for which the longitudinal cut is centred. Options include:
1. Mercury
2. Venus
3. Earth
4. Mars
5. JUNO Orbit of Jupiter is outside the model domain
6. MPO
7. PSP
8. SOLO
9. STA
Date Input: Specify the date for retrieving the model. The database will source the model with the closest timestamp (in seconds) to the provided date.

Action Buttons:

Search Button: Initiates a search and opens the results in a Search panel.
Load Button: Loads data based on the selected parameters. The loading button is deactivated to prevent multiple requests while waiting for the model to be fully loaded. After the model is loaded or the maximum waiting time is reached, the button is returned to its initial state.
Screen Recording Button: Starts animations and screen recording. During this process, the button will slowly blink, and the web page will become non-interactive, meaning all functionality will be limited. Upon completion, the resulting video download will be initiated, and all functional buttons will be active again. Execution of the screen recording may take a while, depending on the system's performance. Note that the proper alignment of various elements in the resulting video requires misalignment of said elements on the page. However, all changes will be reverted afterward.
JHV Button: When an active JHelioviewer is detected on the current machine, pressing this button will load the given (selected) model onto it.

Time & Date

This section displays information about the data collection:

Collection Name: Shows the name and timestamp of the model. It is also the date closest to the date on which the magnetogram for the model was selected.
Start Date and End Date: Displays the range of dates the model covers.

Plots Section

The Plots Section is where visual data representations are shown. It consists of several components; an overview is given in this section below.

Videos

This component consisnts of following four clumns:

Equator Slice: Shows the equatorial view with video. The provided image overlay represents the HEEQ grid in units of 1AU. In addition, the interactive markers of heliospheric objects are provided, which display the name of the object marked when interacted with. Finally, in the top left corner, the current date of the video is displayed.
Longitudinal Slice: Displays the longitudinal slice centred on the selected heliospheric object (see section: Search panel). The overlay is similar to the previous case. The Timeline is an interactive component that displays the time-variation of the chosen variable at the selected heliospheric object.
Colour bar: Provides a color reference for the data.
Legend: Identifies the markers on the first two components.

Video Controls

Provided are controll buttons:

Play/Pause: Starts or pauses the video playback.
Step Backward: Moves the video playback one frame backward.
Step Forward: Moves the video playback one frame forward.
Slider: Adjusts the video playback position.

Due to the nature of the data, the video playback, animation of orbits of the heliospheric objects, and the animation of the timeline are asynchronous and detached processes. Also, the play/pause of the video will result in synchronous play/pause of all animated components. Slight deviations are expected. Nevertheless, using the step forward/backward buttons or slider may change the orbital location and update the timeline but may not update the video frame. The reverse is also true, and while the video frame may change, the orbital location or the timeline may not be updated. If more precise synchronisation is desired, it is recommended to use JHelioviewer (see also: Action Buttons).

Timeline

The Timeline in an interactive component that displays the time-variation of the chosen variable at the selected heliospheric object. Typically, the values displayed are from the model, supplemented by those obtained from relevant observation sources. If the observation is not available by default, the values from Earth's observations are shown as long as the selected observation is available. In addition, a speciation marker, centred on the model data, is animated to provide visual aid during the video playback. As discussed in the previous section, the marker may not perfectly align with the video's timestamp, though the difference should be minimal.

Interactive features

The timeline provides the multiple interactive features. these features are coverd in greated detile by the producer of the invoked library Plotly. Thus here we only provide brief overview of small subset of the features. Interacting with plot is possible by:

Hovering: Hovering over the timeline will display the variable's timestamp and value. The colour of the panel identifies to which dataset it belongs to.
Toggle the legend visibility: By clicking on the name of the displayed dataset in the legend (left most of the plot), it is possible to flip the visibility of the given set.
Manual action items Action items are located in the upper right corner of the plot and offer a a wide range of options. The most useful are:

Zoom: Allows to zoom in the plot.
Pen: Allows to drag plot.
Reset Axes: Resets the axes to the initial state.
Autoscale: Automatically scales the axes to fit the data.

Info Section

This section provides additional information about the displayed model

Provider Info: Details about the name of the magnetogram provider and the date of the magnetogram.
CME Info: Information about each injected CME.

Search panel

The search side panel consists of two date selectors and a results table. The selected campaign and the selected range of dates determine the pool of models on which the search is performed. By default, the final date of the search is set to the one specified on the main page and the range is set to a week before. Changing either of the dates will automatically initiate the search process. The search results are then displayed as a list specifying the model type, date, and number of CMEs injected. Clicking on the model will trigger loading, and the model will be displayed on the main page. Note that if one wants to search for a "Daily" campaign instead of a "CME" campaign, the side panel must must be closed and reopend after a correct selection is made in the Model selector.

URL parameters

The web page supports several URL parameters that modify its behavior. These parameters can be appended to the URL to customize the user experience:

campaign: Sets the campaign type. Acceptable values are "cme" or "daily". Example: ?campaign=cme
variable: Specifies the variable to display. Acceptable values are "Vr" for ratial velocity, "n" for density, or "Bclt" for magneticfield. Example: ?variable=n
slice: Defines the heliospheric object for centering the longitudinal cut. Acceptable values include "Mercury", "Venus", "Earth", "Mars", "JUNO", "MPO", "PSP", "SOLO", or "STA". Example: ?slice=Earth
datetime: Sets the date for retrieving the model. The date should be in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS) -use the Z in the end for UTC-. Example: ?datetime=2023-10-01T12:00:00
dashboard: Activates dashboard mode, which disables certain UI elements for a cleaner display and set video to auto play and repeate mode. Example: ?dashboard=true

Default values "cme", "Vr", "Earth", the current date and time, and no dashboard are used if parameters are not provided. Multiple parameters can be combined using the '&' symbol. For example:
?campaign=cme&variable=Vr&slice=Earth&datetime=2025-10-01T12:00:00&dashboard=true

Upcoming updates

As part of future (upcoming) updates, the following features are planned to be implemented:

Info section: Exact time of the magnitogram Done!
Additional variables: Incusion of the kp indexes

Contact

For any questions, issues or suggestions, please contact the our team at euhforia@oma.be.

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