CRRES HEEF: Equatorial Electron Distributions vs. L-Shell

Half-orbit resolution electron flux data from the CRRES spacecraft's High Energy Electron Fluxmeter (HEEF). The dataset contains averaged fluxes for energies from 0.3 to 7.5 MeV, mapped to equatorial pitch angles and binned by McIlwain L value. It was produced by NASA and last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling radiation belt electron dynamics based on L-shell and pitch angle distributions.
• Analyzing space weather effects on satellites based on high-energy electron flux data.
• Validating magnetospheric physics simulations based on mapped equatorial pitch angle data.
• Studying temporal variations in energetic particle populations based on half-orbit resolution data.

Strengths

• Data covers a specific high-energy electron range from 0.3 to 7.5 MeV.
• Pitch angle distributions are mapped to the equator and binned with 0.05 L-shell resolution.
• Produced by NASA, an authoritative source for space science data.

Limitations

• Data is stored in a SGI(UNIX) binary format (BIN), requiring specific read software.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Data developed from 1-minute in-situ pitch angle distributions from the CRRES spacecraft HEEF instrument, mapped to the equator assuming first adiabatic invariant conservation.

Time Range

Temporal coverage is not explicitly stated in the provided metadata.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 07:46:41.486618; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Data is mapped to equatorial regions and binned by McIlwain L value, representing magnetospheric spatial coverage.