THEMIS-D: On-Board Plasma Moments from ESA and SST Instruments

THEMIS-D spacecraft on-board data outputs include number density, particle flux, and a six-component symmetric momentum flux tensor. Ground processing calculates total pressure, velocity, plasma temperature, and a six-component symmetric pressure tensor for both ions and electrons, using data from the ESA and SST instruments. The dataset is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated on March 13, 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling magnetospheric plasma dynamics based on calculated velocity in DSL, GSE, GSM, and MFA coordinates.
• Analyzing solar wind interaction with Earth's magnetic field based on ion and electron density and pressure data.
• Studying spacecraft charging effects based on data corrected using the spacecraft potential from the EFI instrument.
• Investigating plasma temperature anisotropy based on the three-dimensional energy vector and pressure tensor.

Strengths

• Data is corrected for spacecraft charging using the spacecraft potential from the EFI instrument.
• Moments are calculated for both ions and electrons from a combination of ESA and SST data.
• Velocity and other parameters are provided in four distinct coordinate systems (DSL, GSE, GSM, MFA).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

On-board measurements from the THEMIS-D spacecraft's ESA and SST instruments, processed on the ground.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:31:20.126371; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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