DMSP F16 SSIES: Satellite Thermal Plasma Measurements, 1-Second Data

The Special Sensors-Ions, Electrons, and Scintillation (SSIES) thermal plasma analysis package is a suite of instruments built by the Center for Space Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas and flown on a number of the DMSP satellites. It includes a Retarding Potential Analyzer (RPA), Ion Drift meter (IDM), scintillation meter, and Langmuir probe. The data is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated on March 13, 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling ionospheric density and temperature based on RPA and Langmuir probe measurements.
• Analyzing ion drift velocities and electric fields based on Ion Drift meter (IDM) data.
• Studying scintillation effects on radio signals based on the scintillation meter readings.
• Investigating space weather events using the combined thermal plasma parameters.

Strengths

• Data originates from a specialized instrument suite built by a university research center.
• The dataset is hosted by the authoritative source, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
• Data is provided at a high temporal resolution of 1 second.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal or orbital bias inherent to the specific DMSP satellite mission.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the SSIES instrument suite on the DMSP F16 satellite.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 07:41:24.287056; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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