CRRES PROTEL: Equatorial Proton Distributions vs. L-Shell

Half-orbit resolution proton distributions from the CRRES spacecraft's Proton Telescope, covering energies from 1 to 100 MeV. The data, created by NASA, maps in-situ pitch angle distributions to the magnetic equator, averaging fluxes into 0.05-wide L-shell bins. Records contain averaged fluxes versus equatorial pitch angle and energy for each half-orbit and L bin.

Use Cases

• Modeling radiation belt dynamics based on proton flux distributions across L-shells.
• Analyzing pitch angle scattering and particle loss processes based on equatorial pitch angle data.
• Studying the relationship between particle energy and magnetic field geometry based on the 1-100 MeV energy range.
• Validating space weather models based on half-orbit averaged proton flux data.

Strengths

• Energy range is explicitly defined as 1-100 MeV.
• Data resolution is specified as half-orbit (~5 hour) averages.
• Spatial binning is detailed as 0.05-wide L-shell bins.
• Produced by the authoritative organization NASA.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data developed from 1-minute in-situ pitch angle distributions from the Proton Telescope (PROTEL) on the CRRES spacecraft, mapped to the magnetic equator.

Time Range

Temporal coverage is not specified in the provided input.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 07:45:10.005602; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Data covers equatorial regions of Earth's magnetosphere, binned by McIlwain L-shell values.