Plasma Analyzer for the Chinese FY-3E Satellite: In-Orbit Performance and Ground Calibration
, Xiaoxin Zhang 3,4, Jinhua Wang 5, Cong Huang 3,4, Jiawei Li 3,4, Aibing Zhang 1,2, Linggao Kong 1,2, Dan Du 3,4, Yong Yang 5, Pengfei Zhang 5, Bin Su 1,2, Bin Liu 1,2 and Zheng Tian 1,2Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The plots in the right column of Fig. 9 have some light curves. It would help the readers if some explanations are given for their appearance.
Author Response
We gratefully appreciate your constructive suggestion. Figure 8-9 represents the result obtained by interpolating the data from approximately 14 to 15 orbits in a day. The curves depict the projection of the data onto the orbit. An explanation has been added at line 284 for clarification.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsA few typos:
Line 50 - 'Energy charged' should be 'Energetic charged'
Line 61 - 'charging particle' should be 'charged particles'
Line 194 - 'Where: ' should be 'where '
Figure 7 - Add axis labels to figures e-h
Line 348: Remove 'Please add'
Author Response
Thank you for your valuable comment. As the reviewer suggested, we have made modifications to the words in the articles and added labels to the axes of Figure 7.
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe paper deals about the results of a Plasma Energy Analyzer on the Fengyun-3E (FY-3E) Meteorological Satellite.
The paper is well written and quantitative results are reported showing that the plasma analyzer is able to monitor the thermal plasma environment along the satellite's orbit, providing interesting results for space weather forecasting.
However, the authors should improve the description (paragraph 2) of the plasma analyzer (fig.1a is not enough) clarifying also the sentence related to the installation on the satellite below reported:
"PMA is installed on the -Z face of the satellite, with its azimuth distributed along the ±X faces of the satellite"
In fact, the coordinate system has been not specified in the text or in a figure and this part should be better explained.
Another point that should be better clarified is related to the potential. Looking to the sentence:
"The charged satellite has a potential difference from its structural ground to the space plasma, which may be considered as the absolute zero potential."
The satellite surface has an absolute charging potential with respect to its structural ground and depending on this potential (positive or negative) in turn means that the incident ions and electrons will be accelerated or decelerated.
Could you clarify what is the zero potential for you?
Comments on the Quality of English Language
English is fluent
Author Response
Thank you for your nice comment. We provided the definition of the satellite coordinate system at line 108: ‘The X-axis of the satellite coordinate system indicates the direction of the satellite's flight. The Y-axis points towards the sun. The Z-axis is defined as cross product of the X-axis and Y-axis.’ The zero potential is of the space plasma. We modified it as ‘The charged satellite has a potential difference from its structural ground potential to the space plasma.Space plasma can be considered as the absolute zero potential. ’ in line 101.
