UARS PEM HEPS B: Daily Electron and Proton Spectra from Earth's Upper Atmosphere

Particle Environment Monitor (PEM) data from the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) provides daily high-resolution spectra of charged particles. The nadir boom measures electron fluxes from 35 keV to 5 MeV using two telescopes, while the zenith boom measures proton fluxes from 70 keV to 150 MeV using six telescopes. This dataset is designed to study the injection of charged particles into Earth's thermosphere, mesosphere, and stratosphere.

Use Cases

• Analyzing solar energetic particle events based on time-series electron and proton intensity data.
• Studying pitch-angle distributions of particles based on measurements from telescopes mounted at multiple angles.
• Modeling energy deposition in the upper atmosphere based on particle energy spectra from 35 keV to 150 MeV.
• Investigating geomagnetic storm effects based on correlated changes in electron and proton fluxes.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution spectral data with a 16.384-second accumulation time per spectrum.
• Covers a wide energy range for both electrons (35 keV–5 MeV) and protons (70 keV–150 MeV).
• Includes directional information from multiple telescopes mounted at specific angles relative to the spacecraft.

Limitations

• Key metadata is missing, including specific column names, row counts, and file sizes.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date between sources (2005-08-23 vs. 2026-04-09), creating uncertainty about data freshness.
• The license is ambiguously specified as 'other-license-specified' without clear terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected by the Particle Environment Monitor (PEM) High-Energy Particle Spectrometer (HEPS) instrument on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS).

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:17:45.575705 (conflicts with an earlier date of 2005-08-23)

Geography

Global coverage from the UARS spacecraft orbit.