ISEE-3 Plasma Data Sets -- Overview

Overview of ISEE-3 Plasma Data Sets

Current ISEE 3 holdings of plasma data online consist of electron moments in the solar wind from the LANL Solar Wind Plasma experiment. Other ISEE data sets are available in the NSSDC off-line archive, and many of them will be migrated to online availability in the near future.

CONTENTS of THIS DIRECTORY:

0. This file -- Overview of all files, and Readme for #2, 3, and 4 below.
1. 00readme_24s_protons_168s_el_temp -- Documentation for #5 and 6 below.
2. sw_el_moments_168s_ascii   -- Data Set SPHE-00205
3. sw_el_moments_1hr_ascii    -- Data Set SPHE-00068
4. sw_el_normalized_1hr_ascii -- Data Set SPHE-00431
5. sw_el_temp_168s_ascii      -- Data Set SPHE-00180 (Old ID = 78-079A-01N)
6. sw_protons_24s_ascii       -- Data Set SPHE-00180 (Old ID = 78-079A-01N)
  The data set SPHE-00180 contains both electron and proton data currently.
  These might be later split apart into two separate data sets with separate IDs.

RELATED DATA RESIDING ELSEWHERE ONLINE at NSSDC:

The graphical display interface at 
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftphelper provides parameter selection and plotting
capabilities for selected data sets, including some of those in this directory.

The interface at 
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftphelper/pla_iio.html provides this service for a
merged data set of IMP8 hourly averages from the LANL and MIT plasma instruments and
hourly averages of ISEE 3 plasma constructed by time-shifting to earth the 24-second 
solar wind proton data set #6 here: sw_el_normalized_1hr_ascii (SPHE-00431).

The interface at 
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftphelper/isee3_merged.html provides this service for
a merger of ISEE 3 magnetic field, plasma flow latitude data previously held only
offline (SPHE-00355), and data set #6 here: sw_protons_24s_ascii (SPHE-00180).

The interface at 
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftphelper/isee3_p.html provides this service for data
set #6 here: sw_protons_24s_ascii (SPHE-00180).

README FOR #2, #3, and #4

#2: sw_el_mom_168s_ascii

NSSDC ID = SPHE-00205
Old ID = 78-079A-01O

Nominal resolution is 168 seconds. Each data file contains data for one month. Data coverage runs from 1982/02/01 through 1992/06/13. There is a data gap from 16 October 1982 to 23 December 1983, corresponding to the geotail phase of the mission.

The electron data from the geotail phase of the mission are archived separately (at 84-second resolution) in data set SPHE-00675 (78-079A-01M), which is not yet online (as of November 2, 2002).

Data parameters included here are: electron density, bulk flow speed, bulk flow azimuth, minimum total temperature (Tper), maximum total temperature (Tpar,) azimuth of the maximum temperature, heat flux, and the heat flux azimuth.

There is no spacecraft position information in this data set. Data set #4 below, however, does include the spacecraft position.

Hourly ephemeris data are available online for the time period from soon after launch through the end of the primary mission, i.e., from August 13, 1978 through February 7, 1987. See the data set "isee3_dp_ephem.asc" and its description "aareadme_isee3_dp_ephem" in the directory at ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacecraft_data/isee/isee3/traj/hourly_magnetospheric.

There is also a trajectory data set with one point per day for the ICE phase of the mission: 1984 - 1997. Its documentation can be found at ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacecraft_data/isee/isee3/traj/daily/icetrjdy_fmt.txt and the data set itself is at ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacecraft_data/isee/isee3/traj/daily/icetrja.asc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: See http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?ds=SPHE-00205

INVENTORY TABLE shows data availability for each hour of each day, for dates 800201 - 920613. See ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/documents/b46763.txt.

DOCUMENTATION: See ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/documents/b44582.txt.

SOFTWARE: Fortran program to read logical record (one long and one short record taken as one) and convert to a terminal-compatible format. See ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/documents/b44417.for.

#3: sw_el_moments_1hr_ascii
NSSDC ID = SPHE-00068
Old ID = 78-079A-01S

This data set was generated at NSSDC by making one-hour averages of the data in data set #2 above (sw_el_mom_168s_ascii; SPHE-00205). There were no time shifts used in creating these hourly averages.

Each data file contains data for one year. Data coverage runs from 1982/02/01 through 1992/06/13. There is a data gap from 16 October 1982 to 23 December 1983, corresponding to the geotail phase of the mission.

Data parameters (hourly averages) are: electron density, bulk flow speed, bulk flow azimuth, minimum total temperature (Tper), maximum total temperature (Tpar), azimuth of maximum temperature, heat flux, and the heat flux azimuth.

There is no spacecraft position information in this data set. Data set #4 below, however, does include the spacecraft position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: See http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?ds=SPHE-00068

INVENTORY TABLE shows data availability for each hour of each day: See ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/documents/b46763.txt.

DOCUMENTATION: See ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/documents/b44583.txt/.

SCREEN_DISPLAY_PROGRAM: Fortran program to read long records and convert to screen-width format: See ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/documents/b44626.for.

GENERATING_PROGRAM: Fortran program that created this averaged data set. (Provided for documentary reference.): See ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/documents/b44511.for.

#4: sw_el_normalized_1hr_ascii
NSSDC ID = SPHE-00431
Old ID = 78-079A-01K

Electron data, normalized to the ion data, for dates 780816 - 821016. Each file contains data for a whole year.

The data parameters include spacecraft position (GSE coordinates), electron density, bulk speed, and electron temperature.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: See http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?ds=SPHE-00431

INVENTORY TABLE shows data availability for each hour of each day: See ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/documents/b46634.txt.

DOCUMENTATION: See ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/documents/b46633.txt.

GRAPHICAL INTERFACE: FTPWeb Browser http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftphelper

NSSDC 11/04/02 HKH