STEREO-B PLASTIC: 2-Hour Averaged Solar Wind Iron Parameters

Solar wind iron flow speed, density, thermal speed, iron to proton density ratio, and iron charge state averaged over 2-hour intervals. The data product includes quality flags for each parameter and was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The dataset was last updated on March 13, 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling solar wind propagation based on iron flow speed and thermal speed.
• Analyzing plasma composition variability based on iron to proton density ratio.
• Calibrating ion detection algorithms based on iron charge state data.
• Flagging unreliable measurements based on the included quality flags.

Strengths

• Includes averaged values for key solar wind iron parameters: flow speed, density, thermal speed, and density ratio.
• Contains quality flags for each measured parameter, aiding data validation.
• Data originates from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is provided in BIN and PDF formats, which may require specialized tools for analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Likely collected by the STEREO-B spacecraft's PLASTIC instrument.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:40:19.196336; freshness should be verified.