DE 2 VEFI: DC Electric Field Measurements from Dynamics Explorer 2 Satellite

DC electric field measurements sampled at 16 samples/s from the Dynamics Explorer 2 satellite's Vector Electric Field Instrument (VEFI). The instrument used 20-m baseline double-probe techniques to measure fields with a planned range of ±1 V/m and resolution of 0.1 mV/m. The dataset was produced by NASA and includes variational electric field measurements from 4 Hz to 1024 Hz.

Use Cases

• Refining spatial patterns of ionospheric electric fields based on triaxial DC measurements
• Studying temporal and spatial variations of electric fields within overall patterns
• Analyzing the projection of electric fields to the equatorial plane
• Correlating electric field data with other spacecraft measurements
• Measuring extreme low frequency (ELF) and irregular structures in the ionosphere

Strengths

• Instrument provides DC electric field measurements with a planned resolution of 0.1 mV/m
• Data includes variational electric field measurements across a frequency range from 4 Hz to 1024 Hz
• Measurement system uses high-impedance (1.0E12 ohm) preamplifiers and 14-bit A/D conversion for sensitivity to about 0.1 µV/m

Limitations

• 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

Measured by the Vector Electric Field Instrument (VEFI) on the Dynamics Explorer 2 satellite using double-probe techniques.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 07:17:50.944002; freshness should be verified