IMP-8 CPME and EPE Background Information |
The combined CPME-EPE data sets have been used to address a wide variety of scientific problems. These include studies of energetic particle activity in and around Earth's magnetosphere, solar energetic particle events, solar X-rays, shock accelerated ions and electrons in the interplanetary medium and near Earth's bow shock, iron group ions in high speed solar wind streams, the intensity gradients of galactic cosmic rays, and dynamical chaos in the magnetosphere. This rich and varied scientific output has resulted from the efforts of several groups, including those at the Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Kansas, University of Calgary, Canada, at the Demokritos University of Thrace in Greece.
The CPME measurements have been used to generate hourly averages of particle intensities published for over more than a decade in Solar Geophysical Data. These data have been used by the at-large science community for many correlative studies in a variety of scientific problems. In addition, a complete set of hourly averages of energetic particle activity at energies >1, 2, 4, 10, 30, and 60 MeV starting from launch of IMP-7 (day 275, 1972) have been delivered both on tape and in graphical output to the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) for use by the science community in potential correlative investigations. This body of data represents the only one of its kind, to our knowledge, and is now extending into its third consecutive solar activity cycle.