IMP 8 Cosmic Ray Nuclear Composition: Hourly Count Rates of Heavy Nuclei

Hourly, spin-averaged count rates of heavy nuclei from the IMP8 Cosmic Ray Nuclear Composition experiment. The data includes rates for CNO nuclei at energies less than and greater than 80 MeV/n, for nuclei with atomic number greater than 8 at low and high energies, and for penetrating particles like protons above 106 MeV. The dataset is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal variations in cosmic ray flux based on hourly count rates.
• Study the composition of heavy nuclei (CNO and Z>8) based on the described energy channels.
• Model solar modulation effects on galactic cosmic rays based on long-term particle count data.
• Correlate penetrating particle rates (e.g., protons >106 MeV) with other space weather phenomena.

Strengths

• Data is provided at an hourly temporal resolution, enabling fine-grained analysis.
• Includes multiple particle categories and energy thresholds as described (e.g., CNO at E<80 MeV/n and E>80 MeV/n).
• Originates from a recognized space physics experiment (IMP8) conducted by the University of Chicago and UNH.

Limitations

• 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.
• Data files are in BIN, TEXT, and HTML formats, which may require specialized tools for parsing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the IMP8 Cosmic Ray Nuclear Composition experiment of the University of Chicago and the University of New Hampshire.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 06:53:16.682484; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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