SWICS Solar Wind Protons Level 2 Data Documentation




Sensor Full Name Measured Species Measured Quantities Typical Energy (KeV/Q) Measurement Technique

SWICS

 Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer 2.0 1 ≤ Z ≤ 30 M, Q, E 0.5 - 100 E/Q
TOF - E

The SWICS Instrument on ACE

The Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer (SWICS) on ACE is optimized for measurements of the chemical and isotopic composition of solar and interstellar matter. SWICS was designed to determine uniquely the chemical and ionic-charge composition of the solar wind, the temperatures and mean speeds of all major solar-wind ions, from H through Fe, at all solar wind speeds above 300 km/s (protons) and 170 km/s (Fe+16), and to resolve H and He isotopes of both solar and interstellar sources. SWICS measures the distribution functions of both the interstellar cloud and dust cloud pickup ions up to energies of 100 keV/e.

For more information about the SWICS and SWIMS instruments, visit the SWICS and SWIMS Home Page, at the University of Michigan.

SWICS Proton Data Description

The SWICS 12-minute proton data contains densities, speeds, and thermal speeds from the beginning of the mission up to the present day. The densities have been cross-calibrated to the proton monitors ACE/SWEPAM and WIND/SWE, and represent a continuous data set that can be used in conjunction with other SWICS data, or as a stand-alone measurement.

For details, see the release notes for SWICS protons level 2 data - provided by the instrument team. All users of SWICS data should read these notes.

All level 2 data records for all ACE instruments contain timing information in the same format. The format of the timing information is described here.

Important note: The data-collection cycles of the SWICS instrument are not synced with UTC, and they are not always exactly the same time-length. As a result, the timestamps of the SWICS data records are NOT aligned with UTC minute or hourly time boundaries. Also, they are NOT exactly 12 minutes apart. Users should be careful combining these data with data from other data sets.

The SWICS Proton data are provided as time-averages, as follows:

Download SWICS Proton level 2 data


Last Updated: 7 November, 2007
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