Multi-Instrument Summary Image

Each image of this type (an example is shown at the bottom) covers a 24-hour period of time. The red bars visible in the image shown below are sliders which, in the MIDL application, allow a specific time range to be chosen for further analysis.

Each panel in the image describes a different type of IMP-8 data.

Top Panel: Particle Data from EPE and CPME

The top panel shows particle data from the Charged Particle Measurements Experiment (CPME) and the Energetic Particle Experiment (EPE) detectors.

For EPE, two particle channels L1 and L2 are shown in the summary image. A table of all the EPE channels in the MERGE data is also provided. All the EPE channels are measured in 16 sectors per spin (i.e., the spacecraft spins every 2.64 seconds, and the counts in each channel are measured 16 times during the spin). Note that EPE channels are not read out every spin, but are read out once every 8 or so spins. For more details, see the EPE documentaion at http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/IMP/#epe (and for the 5 minute average data see http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/IMP/data/imp8/epe/L1_330s/0000_Read_Me.txt )

The EPE data in the MERGE files is in counts, and the MIDL tool can convert this to count rate, energy-intergrated flux, and differential flux. (The F channel is not bounded in energy and so cannot be presented in differential flux units.)

The data in this summary image came from the MERGE files.

For CPME, five particle channels are shown: P1, P3, P5, P7, P11 Here is link to a table describing all the CPME channels.

Note that in the MERGE data, each CPME channel has a spin averaged value, but only some channels have sectored measurements too. Sectored CPME data uses only 8 sectors in the spin.

Plasma Panel

The next panel down shows plasma data from the MERGE file. The speed, temperature, and density are all provided. The axes are color coded to correspond to one of the three types of data in the panel.

Magnetic Field Panel

The total field is shown in black (with the scale on the left), and the z-component is in red with the scale on the right.

Auxiliary Information

The time axis is given beneath the magnetic field.
Below this is a coverage plot showing the times when there are data in the MERGE files. This is only a rough estimate, but it can help confirm the presence of data gaps for each of the different types of data.
The bottom panel shows the location in GSE coordinates of IMP-8 during the time covered by the above plot panels. The solid bar shows the spacecraft's trajectory, and this path is broken into three parts. The first and last parts are in black, and these are for the day before and the day after the current day, respectively. The inner bar fades from red to white, with red indicating earlier times, and white later times.

Sample Summary Image