Heliophysics

Transition Region And Coronal Explorer (TRACE)

Remote Sensing Observatory · Competed · Agency-led · Launched on April 2, 1998 · Completed · LCC: $49M/$104M (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For TRACE, papers published June 1, 1998 to July 1, 2012. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For TRACE, papers published from 1998 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods715
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods39,490
Citation indices
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods103
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods163
m-indexm-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods3.6
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods369
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods686

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

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Tracked publications over the lifetime (715)

All publications CSV · JSON

  1. The transition region and coronal explorer

    Handy, B. N., 1999, SoPh

    1,114 lifetime citations

  2. TRACE observation of damped coronal loop oscillations: Implications for coronal heating

    Nakariakov, V. M., 1999, Sci

    857 lifetime citations

  3. Coronal Loop Oscillations Observed with the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer

    Aschwanden, Markus J., 1999, ApJ

    836 lifetime citations

  4. Coronal Mass Ejections: Observations

    Webb, David F., 2012, LRSP

    736 lifetime citations

  5. Photospheric and heliospheric magnetic fields

    Schrijver, Carolus J., 2003, SoPh

    693 lifetime citations

  6. Flare Observations

    Benz, Arnold O., 2017, LRSP

    507 lifetime citations

  7. Determination of the coronal magnetic field by coronal loop oscillations

    Nakariakov, V. M., 2001, A&A

    456 lifetime citations

  8. The Damping of Coronal Loop Oscillations

    Ruderman, M. S., 2002, ApJ

    436 lifetime citations

  9. Particle acceleration and kinematics in solar flares - A Synthesis of Recent Observations and Theoretical Concepts (Invited Review)

    Aschwanden, Markus J., 2002, SSRv

    425 lifetime citations

  10. A new view of the solar outer atmosphere by the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer

    Schrijver, C. J., 1999, SoPh

    370 lifetime citations

  11. The Nature of Flare Ribbons in Coronal Null-Point Topology

    Masson, S., 2009, ApJ

    367 lifetime citations

  12. Transverse Oscillations in Coronal Loops Observed with TRACE II. Measurements of Geometric and Physical Parameters

    Aschwanden, Markus J., 2002, SoPh

    340 lifetime citations

  13. The Magnetic Topology of Solar Eruptions

    Antiochos, S. K., 1998, ApJ

    339 lifetime citations

  14. Time Variability of the ``Quiet'' Sun Observed with TRACE. II. Physical Parameters, Temperature Evolution, and Energetics of Extreme-Ultraviolet Nanoflares

    Aschwanden, Markus J., 2000, ApJ

    328 lifetime citations

  15. Flare Observations

    Benz, Arnold O., 2008, LRSP

    285 lifetime citations

  16. An Ab Initio Approach to the Solar Coronal Heating Problem

    Gudiksen, Boris Vilhelm, 2005, ApJ

    284 lifetime citations

  17. Observations of the Failed Eruption of a Filament

    Ji, Haisheng, 2003, ApJ

    280 lifetime citations

  18. Evidence for Nonuniform Heating of Coronal Loops Inferred from Multithread Modeling of TRACE Data

    Aschwanden, Markus J., 2000, ApJ

    276 lifetime citations

  19. Characteristics of transverse oscillations in a coronal loop arcade

    Verwichte, E., 2004, SoPh

    255 lifetime citations

  20. Active region EUV transient brightenings - First Results by EIT of SOHO JOP 80

    Berghmans, D., 1999, SoPh

    250 lifetime citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) for peer-reviewed articles naming TRACE in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces.

((=abs:"Transition Region and Coronal Explorer" OR (abs:TRACE AND (abs:satellite OR abs:observation OR abs:observatory OR abs:telscope) AND (abs:(corona OR coronal OR flare OR flares OR chromosphere OR chromospheric OR prominence OR filament OR sunspot OR EUV) OR =abs:"active region" OR =abs:"transition region"))) AND NOT (abs:"TRACE-P")) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[1998-06 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Removed after review (4)

  1. Solar Spicules: A Review of Recent Models and Targets for Future Observations - (Invited Review) Review of spicule models; mentions TRACE only as a satellite that could test them. Decision 🤖
  2. The Hinode X-Ray Telescope (XRT): Camera Design, Performance and Operations Describes the Hinode X-ray telescope camera; mentions TRACE only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  3. Multiplicity of Solar X-Ray Corona in Time and Space Describes the Hinode X-ray telescope; mentions TRACE only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  4. SMESE: A SMall Explorer for Solar Eruptions Overview of the proposed SMESE mission; mentions TRACE only as a current mission. Decision 🤖