MMS HPCA: Magnetospheric Ion Composition Moments at 10-Second Resolution

MMS HPCA Level 2 Burst Mode data provides 10-second measurements of magnetospheric plasma composition and energy. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration instrument measures counts for five ion species across 63 energies, 16 elevation anodes, and 16 azimuths per half spacecraft spin. Data covers the energy range from 1 eV to 40 keV.

Use Cases

• Modeling magnetospheric plasma dynamics based on ion species composition data
• Analyzing ion energy distributions across 63 energy levels
• Studying spatial variations in plasma based on 16 elevation and azimuth measurements
• Correlating plasma composition with magnetic field data from other MMS instruments

Strengths

• Data covers five distinct ion species: protons, alpha particles, helium ions, singly charged oxygen, and background counts
• Provides high-resolution measurements at 63 energy levels and 16 spatial directions
• Instrument measures a broad energy range from 1 eV to 40 keV

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data is stored in BIN format, which may require specialized tools for access

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measured by the Hot Plasma Composition Analyzer (HPCA) instruments on the MMS spacecraft.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 08:30:33.442778; freshness should be verified

Geography

Magnetospheric regions surveyed by the MMS spacecraft.