ISEE-3: Propagated Solar Wind Plasma Data at 60-Second Resolution

Propagated solar wind plasma data from the ISEE-3 spacecraft interpolated to 60-second resolution in GSE coordinates. The data was constructed by Dr. J.M. Weygand for Prof. R.L. McPherron under NSF grants ATM 02-1798 and ATM 02-08501. It uses a minimum variance propagation technique to estimate the delay of solar wind measurements to a position near Earth's bow shock.

Use Cases

• Analyzing solar wind propagation delays to Earth's magnetosphere based on the described minimum variance technique.
• Studying correlations between upstream solar wind conditions and magnetospheric activity using the 60-second resolution data.
• Validating or comparing solar wind propagation models based on the Weimer method outlined in the referenced papers.
• Conducting superposed epoch studies of magnetospheric events using the propagated solar wind parameters.

Strengths

• Data is propagated to a consistent reference point just outside Earth's bow shock (about 17, 0, 0 Re).
• Time resolution is standardized to 60 seconds through linear interpolation.
• Construction method and references to peer-reviewed publications (Weimer et al., 2003, 2004) are documented.

Limitations

• The propagation method does not work well for shocks and for minimum variance directions with tilts greater 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 ISEE-3 spacecraft, propagated using a minimum variance technique and linearly interpolated to 60-second resolution.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:52:00.426594; freshness should be verified.