AAREADME - Alouette 2 CEP data - DKB - August 10, 2000 ------------------------------------------------------ NSSDC-ID: 65-098A-05A Size/Byte: 3,596,244 Time Period: 1966-02-21 to 1967-02-16 Time Resolution:1-5 Minutes Format: ASCII This data set includes the archived data from the Cylindrical Electrostatic Probe (CEP) experiment on the Alouette 2 satellite. Alouette 2 was launched on 1965-11-29 into an elliptical orbit (500-3000km) with an inclination of 79.8 degrees. Its payload included a topside sounder, a VLF receiver, an energetic particles experiment, a cosmic noise experiment, and the CEP. There was no tape recorder. Data are available for times when the satellite crossed a telemetry station. Telemetry stations were located so that primary data coverage was near the 80 deg W meridan plus areas near Hawaii, Singapore Australia, the UK, India, Norway, and Central Africa. Initially data were recorded about 8 h per day. Unfortunately, only two digits were used in the original data format to describe the electron densities. identification format units Description ---------------------------------------------------------------------- year i4 month i3 day i3 hour i3 minute i3 second i3 local time f5.1 decimal hours geodetic latitude i4 degrees geodetic longitude i4 degrees geomagnetic latitude i4 degrees geomagnetic longitude i4 degrees altitude i5 km dip latitude i4 degrees [from tape] magnetic inclination (dip) f6.1 degrees [newly computed using IGRF model] magnetic field strength B i3 1/100 Gauss L value f6.2 [newly computed using IGRF model] quality code for L value i2 [1 : L is correct, 2 : L is incorrect, 3 : L is an approximation) solar zenith angle i4 degrees ap index (daily) i4 [newly added parameter] kp index (3 hour) i3 *10 [o = .0, + = .3, - = -.3 examp.: 3- = 27, 3+ = 33,3o=30] [newly added parameter] F10.7 (solar radio flux, daily) i4 [newly added parameter] sunspot number (daily) i4 [newly added parameter] orbit number i6 electron density f8.1 cm-3 satellite potential i5 mV station code a4 see list at http://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/isis/isis-table1-new.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fill values: Using '9' for all digits, e.g., electron temperature, satellite potential (format i5) - 9999, L-value - 99.99, exception (e format): electron density - 1e35. Note that an FTPHelper interface to this dataset, providing data subsetting and and graphical browsing, is available at http://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/ftphelper.html