MMS FPI: Plasma Distribution Moments from Burst Mode Satellite Data

Plasma distribution moments data from the Fast Plasma Investigation instrument on the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. The dataset includes burst mode measurements at 30 ms resolution for electrons and 150 ms for ions, alongside survey mode data at lower resolutions. NASA produced this Level 2 product, which integrates phase space distributions to provide parameters characterizing the plasma state.

Use Cases

• Analyzing rapid changes in plasma density and temperature based on burst mode 30 ms electron data
• Studying magnetospheric boundary crossings using instrument state annotation and time stamps
• Comparing plasma behavior inside and outside the mission's Region of Interest using different survey mode resolutions
• Investigating solar wind-magnetosphere coupling using integrated moments of phase space distributions

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution burst mode data at 30 ms for electrons
• Includes supplementary parameters augmenting standard moments products
• Data is produced by NASA, an authoritative space science organization

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Not all burst resolution data are downlinked per mission design

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected by the Fast Plasma Investigation instrument on the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) satellites.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 09:25:44.438233; freshness should be verified