ISEE-1: Solar Wind Plasma Data Propagated to Earth's Bow Shock

NASA's ISEE-1 satellite data provides solar wind plasma measurements propagated to a point near Earth's bow shock. The data has been processed to a 60-second resolution using a minimum variance technique for propagation timing. It was constructed by Dr. J.M. Weygand for Prof. R.L. McPherron's NSF-funded studies on geomagnetic phenomena.

Use Cases

• Superposed epoch analysis of magnetospheric events based on propagated solar wind timing.
• Modeling the propagation delay of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) based on the described minimum variance technique.
• Studying solar wind conditions preceding geomagnetic activity based on data positioned just outside the bow shock.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a consistent 60-second temporal resolution.
• Propagation method is documented with specific references to peer-reviewed publications (Weimer et al., 2003, 2004).
• Data was created for and used in National Science Foundation-funded research projects (GEM Grant ATM 02-1798, Space Weather Grant ATM 02-08501).

Limitations

• The propagation method does not work well for shocks or when the minimum variance direction tilts more than 70 degrees from the sun-earth line.
• 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

Solar wind data from the ISEE-1 Fast Plasma Experiment, propagated using a minimum variance technique and linearly interpolated to 60-second resolution.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:54:10.387029; freshness should be verified.