ACE SWEPAM: Suprathermal Electron Pitch Angle Data at 272 eV

Suprathermal electron pitch angle distribution functions at 272 eV, measured by the ACE/SWEPAM-E instrument and averaged over 128-second intervals. The data are provided by NASA as Level 3 data, which indicates automated processing without human validation. The energy channel is centered at 272 eV with a width of approximately 12%, and pitch angles are binned in 9-degree increments from 0 to 180 degrees.

Use Cases

• Analyzing solar wind electron pitch angle distributions based on 128-second averaged data.
• Studying the separation between core and suprathermal electron populations based on the described energy breakpoint around 70-100 eV.
• Investigating instrument calibration effects over time based on the mention of detector gain changes.
• Examining data artifacts and statistical significance based on the high count rates reported for the 272 eV energy channel.

Strengths

• Data is centered on a specific 272 eV energy channel with a reported ~12% width.
• Pitch angles are provided in 9-degree wide bins from 0 to 180 degrees.
• The description notes high count rates at 272 eV provide excellent statistical significance and few artifacts.

Limitations

• The data are Level 3, automatically calculated and not validated by a person, likely including some artifacts and erroneous values.
• The description strongly discourages use for long-term studies of distribution function amplitudes due to instrument gain changes over time.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measured by the ACE/SWEPAM-E instrument, processed into 128-second averages.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 14:30:42.042504; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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