Automated Classification of MESSENGER Plasma Observations via
Unsupervised Transfer Learning
Abstract
We applied an unsupervised clustering algorithm, initially trained on
data from Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission at Earth, to MESSENGER
observations at Mercury to identify three distinct plasma regions:
magnetosphere, magnetosheath, and solar wind. This demonstrates the
applicability of transfer learning for heliophysics, a machine learning
technique where knowledge learned from one task is reused to perform a
similar task, for an unsupervised learning task. We find that
72% of bow shock crossings and 84% of
magnetopause crossings identified by the clustering algorithm using
MESSENGER data are in agreement with published magnetopause and bow
shock lists. These findings highlight the potential for utilizing a
clustering algorithm across multiple planetary environments.