ACE Solar Wind Propagation Data at 1-Minute Resolution

ACE spacecraft solar wind data propagated to near Earth's bow shock using a minimum variance technique. The dataset was constructed by Dr. J.M. Weygand for Prof. R.L. McPherron under NSF grants ATM 02-1798 and ATM 02-08501. It provides linearly interpolated time delay, cosine angle, and goodness information at a 1-minute cadence.

Use Cases

• Predicting interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) propagation delays based on the described minimum variance technique
• Conducting superposed epoch studies of solar wind events as referenced in the description
• Analyzing solar wind parameter correlations using propagated and interpolated 1-minute data
• Modeling magnetopause and bow shock interactions with propagated solar wind parameters

Strengths

• Data is propagated to a specific position (about 17, 0, 0 Re) just outside the nominal bow shock
• Provides a high temporal resolution of 1 minute through linear interpolation
• Methodology is documented in peer-reviewed publications by Dan Weimer et al. [2003; 2004]

Limitations

• The propagation method does not work well for shocks and minimum variance directions with tilts greater than 70 degrees of the sun-earth line
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Propagation and interpolation of processed solar wind data from the ACE spacecraft.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:00:07.857672