SAMPEX LICA 6-Second Rate Data Documentation

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This data set consists of 6-second particle rates from the LICA instrument. The data set covers the complete mission, from launch through 2004-182. The rates are not calibrated or converted into physical units. Calibrated particle intensities are also available.

The data are derived from the SAMPEX RS Set data, documented in the SAMPEX NGDF Data File Description.

The time-stamps for the attitude/orbit (PS Set) data have been synced (in ground data processing) with the time-stamps for these 6-second rate data, and with the time-stamps for the particle intensity data.

Thus, the timestamps in each of these data sets may be used to associate the appropriate attitude/orbit data with each 6-second intensity or rates data record.

In addition, the intensity, attitude/orbit, and rates data have been filled so that they all contain the same number of records per day.

The data are accumulated over 6-second intervals. LICA does not have any multiplexed rates.

More information on the SAMPEX spacecraft, instruments, operations, and the science data may be found in the SAMPEX Mission and Instrument Documentation.

Description of each data field

  1. year:
    Four-digit year
  2. day:
    Day of year (starting at 1)
  3. hr:
    Hour of day
  4. min:
    Minute of hour
  5. sec:
    Second of minute
  6. fp_year:
    Year, floating-point
  7. fp_doy:
    Day of year, floating-point
  8. sec_of_day:
    Second of day

    Rates (Units are counts/6-seconds in all cases)

  9. D4:
    Solid state detector D4 singles counts. Ions and electrons > 600 keV.
  10. D3:
    Solid state detector D3 singles counts. Ions and electrons > 600 keV.
  11. D2:
    Solid state detector D2 singles counts. Ions and electrons > 600 keV.
  12. D1:
    Solid state detector D1 singles counts. Ions and electrons > 600 keV.
  13. Triple:
    Coincidence counts: START . STOP . Dx
  14. Double:
    Coincidence counts: START . STOP
  15. Stop:
    STOP MCP Singles counts. > 250 KeV for protons, > 25 keV for e-.
  16. Start:
    START MCP Singles counts. > 250 KeV for protons, > 25 keV for e-.
  17. In_Flt_Cal:
    Internal pulser counts.
  18. Proton:
    Counts of particle events identified as protons by the onboard logic. >0.76 MeV.
  19. Lo_Pri:
    Counts of particle events identified as He by the onboard logic. 0.50-6.57 MeV/nuc.
  20. Hi_Pri:
    Counts of particle events identified as Z>5 by the onboard logic. 0.49-10.7 MeV/nuc.

    Attitude/Orbit

    A subset of the SAMPEX attitude/orbit data. For more, see the     Complete attitude/orbit data set.
  21. GEO_Long
    Longitude in GEO coordinate system (0 to 360 degrees).
  22. GEO_Lat
    Longitude in GEO coordinate system (0 to 360 degrees).
  23. L_Shell
    L-shell parameter.
  24. Invariant_Lat
    Invariant latitude (degrees).
  25. Pitch
    Pitch angle of a particle heading down the instrument boresight (i.e., angle between S/C z-axis and (-1) times the local magnetic field vector), in degrees.
  26. Magnetic_Lat
    Algebraic magnetic latitude (degrees).
  27. Mag_Local_Tm
    Local time at magnetic equator along current field line (hr) ECD.
  28. Att_Flag
    Flag, data quality flag indicating source of attitude information (Applies only to pitch angle for the attitude/orbit data subset included here).
    Executive summary: flag =0,1,100, or 101 means attitude is OK. Other values indicate attitude is not OK.