Voyager 2 Plasma Wave Spectra at Neptune, 4-Second Intervals

Voyager 2 Plasma Wave Spectrometer (PWS) data provides edited, uncalibrated wave electric field intensities measured near Neptune's magnetosphere. The dataset contains 4-second interval measurements across 16 logarithmically spaced frequency channels from 10 Hz to 56.2 kHz. Data were produced by NASA's Voyager 2 mission and last updated in the catalog on 2026-03-13.

Use Cases

• Search for plasma wave events based on 16-channel spectral intensity data.
• Perform trend analysis of wave electric field strength using the raw data numbers, which are roughly proportional to the log of the field.
• Study the frequency structure of Neptune's magnetospheric environment using the four-channels-per-decade logarithmic spacing.

Strengths

• Data has a defined temporal resolution of 4.0 seconds per measurement.
• Spectrum covers a wide frequency range from 10 Hz to 56.2 kHz across 16 channels.
• Includes documented noise level (0.000005 V/M) and calibration procedures for further analysis.

Limitations

• Data are edited but not calibrated; raw data numbers require application of provided calibration tables for precise physical values.
• During data gaps, complete 4-second spectra are omitted without zero-filling or tagging, which may complicate continuous time-series analysis.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measured by the Voyager 2 Plasma Wave Receiver Spectrum Analyzer and processed using 'CDMAKE' software.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 13:49:30.367614; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Vicinity of the Neptunian Magnetosphere