RPW Data Center

solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp2

Diane Berard — 2026-05-07T17:21:17Z

The data product solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp2 provides Basic Parameters set 2 (BP2) in SBM1 mode, computed for the frequency range F0 of the LFR analyser of the Solar Orbiter/RPW instrument.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.57780/ESA-3XCJD4W
Publisher: ESA
Citation: European Space Agency & Maksimovic, M. (2024). RPW, Radio and Plasma Waves instrument (Version v1.0) [Dataset]. European Space Agency. https://doi.org/10.57780/ESA-3XCJD4W

Link to the data repository

Data files are available from the Solar Orbiter Archive home page.

Copies of the files are also stored in the LIRA local data repository.

Data product overview

BP2s are just a compression of the frequency averaged ASM.

L2 Basic Parameters set 2 are fully calibrated in physical units and expressed both in spacecraft reference frame (SRF) and in sensor axis reference frame.

Data have been produced following the method described in Chust et al, 2021 (see references)

Reminder : F0 = 24576 Hz, F1 = 4096 Hz, F2 = 256 Hz and F3 = 16 Hz,

Data product key facts
Type of data	Basic Parameters Set 2
Intensity units	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz
Frequency range	1776 to 9840 Hz
Frequency number	22
Frequency step	384Hz
Frequency scale	Linear
Time resolution	1 second
Data format	CDF (3.9.0)
Granularity	1 file per day

Data organization

Table below gives the name, data type, units and description of the zVariables stored in the CDF file.
In the the “TYPE” column, the expected size (i.e., number of elements along each dimension) of the zVariable for a CDF record is given between bracket (e.g., “[1]”).
Non-record-variant zVariables are indicated by a “(NRV)” additional label in the “TYPE” column.

NAME	TYPE	UNIT	DESCRIPTION
Epoch	CDF_TIME_TT2000[1]	ns	Epoch time of the record
QUALITY_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate the quality of the data
COMMON_BIA_STATUS_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		LFR common parameters and BIAS status info relevancy flag
QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT1[1]		Additional flag to add quality information
L2_QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate specific quality issue for L2 data
F0	CDF_REAL4[22] - NRV	Hz	Frequencies of BP2 at F0
BIAS_MODE_MUX_SET	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of multiplexer setting
BIAS_MODE_HV_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable HV (+- 100V).
BIAS_MODE_BIAS1_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 1.
BIAS_MODE_BIAS2_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 2.
BIAS_MODE_BIAS3_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 2.
BIAS_ON_OFF	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of BIAS status
BW	CDF_UINT1[1]		BIAS Works/BIAS Fails configuration
SP0	CDF_UINT1[1]		Shaping of electrical data
SP1	CDF_UINT1[1]		Shaping of electrical data
R0	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
R1	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
R2	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
BP2_CNT	CDF_UINT1[1]		Number of BP2 sets read for a given sampling frequency (F0, F1 or F2).
BP2_RE_F0	CDF_REAL8[22,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the real parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F0
BP2_IM_F0	CDF_REAL8[22,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the imaginary parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F0
BP2_RE_F0_SRF	CDF_REAL8[22,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the real parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F0 in the SRF frame.
BP2_IM_F0_SRF	CDF_REAL8[22,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the imaginary parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F0 in the SRF frame.
SYNCHRO_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate if the local time is synchronized with the RPW DPU clock or not. Possible values: synchronized=0, not synchronized=1. This flag is extracted from ACQUISITION_TIME in L0 packets, it is the MSB of the CUC time.

Rules of use

Please read the text of the Rules_of_use global attribute in the CDF files.
See also in https://rpw-datacenter.obspm.fr/spip.php?article4.

Caveats and known issues

Table below gives the list of main known issues and the actions taken to mitigate them.
Please read the CAVEATS global attribute entries in the CDF files to be aware of the possible issues and limitations concerning data.

ISSUE	MITIGATION(S)

Release notes

See MODS global attribute in the CDF files for an history of the data modifications.

Authors

Thomas Chust, Rodrigue Piberne, Bruno Katra, Alexis Jeandet and Véronique Bouzid (retired).

References

• The Solar Orbiter Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument, Maksimovic et al., A&A, 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201936214)
• Metadata Definition for Solar Orbiter Science Data, Helen R. Middleton
• RPW Data Product Description Document (DPDD)
• Observations of whistler mode waves by Solar Orbiter's RPW Low Frequency Receiver (LFR): In-flight performance and first results, Chust et al, A&A, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202140932
• NASA CDF Web portal

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solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp1

Diane Berard — 2026-05-07T17:19:38Z

The data product solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp1 provides Basic Parameters set 1 (BP1) in SBM2 mode, computed for the frequency ranges F0 and F1 of the LFR analyser of the Solar Orbiter/RPW instrument.

Link to the data repository

Data files are available from the Solar Orbiter Archive home page.

Copies of the files are also stored in the LIRA local data repository.

Data product overview

BP1s consist of seven spectral quantities which aim at characterizing the waves: the total electric and magnetic power spectra, the wave normal vector, a wave ellipticity estimator, a wave planarity estimator, the radial-component of the Poynting vector, and a phase velocity estimator.

L2 Basic Parameters set 1 are fully calibrated in physical units and expressed both in spacecraft reference frame (SRF) and in sensor axis reference frame.

Data have been produced following the method described in Chust et al, 2021 (see references)

Reminder : F0 = 24576 Hz, F1 = 4096 Hz, F2 = 256 Hz and F3 = 16 Hz,

Data product key facts
Type of data	Basic Parameters Set 1
Intensity units	(V/m²)/Hz, nT²/Hz, nW/m^2/Hz, km/s, or None
Frequency range	120 to 9840 Hz
Frequency number	48
Frequency step	64Hz (F1) and 384Hz (F0)
Frequency scale	Linear
Time resolution	1 second
Data format	CDF (3.9.0)
Granularity	1 file per day

Data organization

NAME	TYPE	UNIT	DESCRIPTION
Epoch	CDF_TIME_TT2000[1]	ns	Epoch time of the record
Epoch_F0	CDF_TIME_TT2000[1]	ns	Epoch time for F0 frequencies
Epoch_F1	CDF_TIME_TT2000[1]	ns	Epoch time for F1 frequencies
QUALITY_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate the quality of the data
COMMON_BIA_STATUS_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		LFR common parameters and BIAS status info relevancy flag
QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT1[1]		Additional flag to add quality information
L2_QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate specific quality issue for L2 data
FREQ	CDF_UINT1[1]		Index to indicate the sampling frequency of the snapshot: F0 or F1 in order to use only one skeleton for the 3 normal mode asm products of ICD.
F0	CDF_REAL4[22] - NRV	Hz	Frequencies of BP1 at F0
F1	CDF_REAL4[26] - NRV	Hz	Frequencies of BP1 at F1
BIAS_MODE_MUX_SET	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of multiplexer setting
BIAS_MODE_HV_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable HV (+- 100V).
BIAS_MODE_BIAS1_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 1.
BIAS_MODE_BIAS2_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 2.
BIAS_MODE_BIAS3_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 2.
BIAS_ON_OFF	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of BIAS status
BW	CDF_UINT1[1]		BIAS Works/BIAS Fails configuration
SP0	CDF_UINT1[1]		Shaping of electrical data
SP1	CDF_UINT1[1]		Shaping of electrical data
R0	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
R1	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
R2	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
BP1_CNT	CDF_UINT1[1]		Number of BP1 sets read for a given sampling frequency (F0, F1 or F2).
PE_F0	CDF_REAL8[22]	(V/m²)/Hz	Spectral power of E field at F0
PE_F1	CDF_REAL8[26]	(V/m²)/Hz	Spectral power of E field at F1
PB_F0	CDF_REAL8[22]	nT²/Hz	Spectral power of B field at F0
PB_F1	CDF_REAL8[26]	nT²/Hz	Spectral power of B field at F1
NVEC_F0	CDF_REAL4[22,3]		Wave normal vector from magnetic field at F0
NVEC_F0_SRF	CDF_REAL4[22,3]		Wave normal vector from magnetic field at F0 in spacecraft reference frame (SRF).
NVEC_F1	CDF_REAL4[26,3]		Wave normal vector from magnetic field at F1
ELLIP_F0	CDF_REAL8[22]		Wave ellipticity from magnetic field at F0
ELLIP_F1	CDF_UINT1[26]		Wave ellipticity from magnetic field at F1
DOP_F0	CDF_UINT1[22]		Degree of polarization from magnetic field at F0
DOP_F1	CDF_REAL8[26]		Degree of polarization from magnetic field at F1
SX_REA_F0	CDF_REAL8[22]	nW/m^2/Hz	Real parts of the X component of the Poynting vector at F0
SX_REA_F1	CDF_REAL8[26]	nW/m^2/Hz	Real parts of the X component of the Poynting vector at F1
SX_ARG_F0	CDF_UINT1[22]		Argument bit = 1 if abs(Im(SX)) > abs(Re(SX)) else 0, at F0
SX_ARG_F1	CDF_UINT1[26]		Argument bit = 1 if abs(Im(SX)) > abs(Re(SX)) else 0, at F1
VPHI_REA_F0	CDF_REAL8[22]	km/s	Phase velocities estimated from the X projection of Maxwell-Faraday equation at F0
VPHI_REA_F1	CDF_REAL8[2§]	km/s	Phase velocities estimated from the X projection of Maxwell-Faraday equation at F1
VPHI_ARG_F0	CDF_UINT1[22]		Argument bit = 1 if abs(Im(SX)) > abs(Re(SX)) else 0, at F0
VPHI_ARG_F1	CDF_UINT1[26]		Argument bit = 1 if abs(Im(SX)) > abs(Re(SX)) else 0, at F1
SYNCHRO_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate if the local time is synchronized with the RPW DPU clock or not. Possible values: synchronized=0, not synchronized=1. This flag is extracted from ACQUISITION_TIME in L0 packets, it is the MSB of the CUC time.

Rules of use

Please read the text of the Rules_of_use global attribute in the CDF files.
See also in https://rpw-datacenter.obspm.fr/spip.php?article4.

Caveats and known issues

ISSUE	MITIGATION(S)

Release notes

See MODS global attribute in the CDF files for an history of the data modifications.

Authors

Thomas Chust, Rodrigue Piberne, Bruno Katra, Alexis Jeandet and Véronique Bouzid (retired).

References

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solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp2

Diane Berard — 2026-05-07T17:19:28Z

The data product solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp2 provides Basic Parameters set 2 (BP2) in SBM2 mode, computed for the frequency ranges F0 and F1 of the LFR analyser of the Solar Orbiter/RPW instrument.

Link to the data repository

Data files are available from the Solar Orbiter Archive home page.

Copies of the files are also stored in the LIRA local data repository.

Data product overview

BP2s are just a compression of the frequency averaged ASMs.

L2 Basic Parameters set 2 are fully calibrated in physical units and expressed both in spacecraft reference frame (SRF) and in sensor axis reference frame.

Data have been produced following the method described in Chust et al, 2021 (see references)

Reminder : F0 = 24576 Hz, F1 = 4096 Hz, F2 = 256 Hz and F3 = 16 Hz,

Data product key facts
Type of data	Basic Parameters Set 2
Intensity units	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz
Frequency range	120 to 9840 Hz
Frequency number	48
Frequency step	64Hz (F1) and 384Hz (F0)
Frequency scale	Linear
Time resolution	1 second
Data format	CDF (3.9.0)
Granularity	1 file per day

Data organization

NAME	TYPE	UNIT	DESCRIPTION
Epoch	CDF_TIME_TT2000[1]	ns	Epoch time of the record
Epoch_F0	CDF_TIME_TT2000[1]	ns	Epoch time for F0 frequencies
Epoch_F1	CDF_TIME_TT2000[1]	ns	Epoch time for F1 frequencies
QUALITY_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate the quality of the data
COMMON_BIA_STATUS_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		LFR common parameters and BIAS status info relevancy flag
QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT1[1]		Additional flag to add quality information
L2_QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate specific quality issue for L2 data
F0	CDF_REAL4[22] - NRV	Hz	Frequencies of BP2 at F0
F1	CDF_REAL4[26] - NRV	Hz	Frequencies of BP2 at F1
BIAS_MODE_MUX_SET	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of multiplexer setting
BIAS_MODE_HV_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable HV (+- 100V).
BIAS_MODE_BIAS1_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 1.
BIAS_MODE_BIAS2_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 2.
BIAS_MODE_BIAS3_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 2.
BIAS_ON_OFF	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of BIAS status
BW	CDF_UINT1[1]		BIAS Works/BIAS Fails configuration
SP0	CDF_UINT1[1]		Shaping of electrical data
SP1	CDF_UINT1[1]		Shaping of electrical data
R0	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
R1	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
R2	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
BP2_CNT	CDF_UINT1[1]		Number of BP2 sets read for a given sampling frequency (F0, F1 or F2).
BP2_RE_F0	CDF_REAL8[22,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the real parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F0
BP2_RE_F1	CDF_REAL8[26,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the real parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F1
BP2_IM_F0	CDF_REAL8[22,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the imaginary parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F0
BP2_IM_F1	CDF_REAL8[26,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the imaginary parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F1
BP2_RE_F0_SRF	CDF_REAL8[22,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the real parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F0 in the SRF frame.
BP2_RE_F1_SRF	CDF_REAL8[26,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the real parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F1 in the SRF frame.
BP2_IM_F0_SRF	CDF_REAL8[22,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the imaginary parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F0 in the SRF frame.
BP2_IM_F1_SRF	CDF_REAL8[26,5,5]	(V/m)²/Hz, nT²/Hz or V/m*nT/Hz	All the imaginary parts of the 5x5 calibrated spectral matrices at F1 in the SRF frame.
SYNCHRO_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate if the local time is synchronized with the RPW DPU clock or not. Possible values: synchronized=0, not synchronized=1. This flag is extracted from ACQUISITION_TIME in L0 packets, it is the MSB of the CUC time.

Rules of use

Please read the text of the Rules_of_use global attribute in the CDF files.
See also in https://rpw-datacenter.obspm.fr/spip.php?article4.

Caveats and known issues

ISSUE	MITIGATION(S)

Release notes

See MODS global attribute in the CDF files for an history of the data modifications.

Authors

Thomas Chust, Rodrigue Piberne, Bruno Katra, Alexis Jeandet and Véronique Bouzid (retired).

References

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solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp1

Diane Berard — 2026-05-07T17:17:18Z

The data product solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp1 provides Basic Parameters set 1 (BP1) in SBM1 mode, computed for the frequency range F0 of the LFR analyser of the Solar Orbiter/RPW instrument.

Link to the data repository

Data files are available from the Solar Orbiter Archive home page.

Copies of the files are also stored in the LIRA local data repository.

Data product overview

The BP1s consist of seven spectral quantities which aim at characterizing the waves: the total electric and magnetic power spectra, the wave normal vector, a wave ellipticity estimator, a wave planarity estimator, the radial-component of the Poynting vector, and a phase velocity estimator.

L2 Basic Parameters set 1 are fully calibrated in physical units and expressed both in spacecraft reference frame (SRF) and in sensor axis reference frame.

Data have been produced following the method described in Chust et al, 2021 (see references)

Reminder : F0 = 24576 Hz, F1 = 4096 Hz, F2 = 256 Hz and F3 = 16 Hz,

Data product key facts
Type of data	Basic Parameters Set 1
Intensity units	(V/m²)/Hz, nT²/Hz, nW/m^2/Hz, km/s, or None
Frequency range	1776 to 9840 Hz
Frequency number	22
Frequency step	384Hz
Frequency scale	Linear
Time resolution	0.25 seconds
Data format	CDF (3.9.0)
Granularity	1 file per day

Data organization

NAME	TYPE	UNIT	DESCRIPTION
Epoch	CDF_TIME_TT2000[1]	ns	Epoch time of the record
QUALITY_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate the quality of the data
COMMON_BIA_STATUS_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		LFR common parameters and BIAS status info relevancy flag
QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT1[1]		Additional flag to add quality information
L2_QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate specific quality issue for L2 data
F0	CDF_REAL4[22] - NRV	Hz	Frequencies of BP1 at F0
BIAS_MODE_MUX_SET	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of multiplexer setting
BIAS_MODE_HV_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable HV (+- 100V).
BIAS_MODE_BIAS1_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 1.
BIAS_MODE_BIAS2_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 2.
BIAS_MODE_BIAS3_ENABLED	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of enable/disable BIAS 2.
BIAS_ON_OFF	CDF_UINT1[1]		Copy of BIAS status
BW	CDF_UINT1[1]		BIAS Works/BIAS Fails configuration
SP0	CDF_UINT1[1]		Shaping of electrical data
SP1	CDF_UINT1[1]		Shaping of electrical data
R0	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
R1	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
R2	CDF_UINT1[1]		Rooting of electrical data
BP1_CNT	CDF_UINT1[1]		Number of BP1 sets read for a given sampling frequency (F0, F1 or F2).
PE_F0	CDF_REAL8[22]	(V/m²)/Hz	Spectral power of E field at F0
PB_F0	CDF_REAL8[22]	nT²/Hz	Spectral power of B field at F0
NVEC_F0	CDF_REAL4[22,3]		Wave normal vector from magnetic field at F0
NVEC_F0_SRF	CDF_REAL4[22,3]		Wave normal vector from magnetic field at F0 in spacecraft reference frame (SRF).
ELLIP_F0	CDF_REAL8[22]		Wave ellipticity from magnetic field at F0
DOP_F0	CDF_UINT1[22]		Degree of polarization from magnetic field at F0
SX_REA_F0	CDF_REAL8[22]	nW/m^2/Hz	Real parts of the X component of the Poynting vector at F0
SX_ARG_F0	CDF_UINT1[22]		Argument bit = 1 if abs(Im(SX)) > abs(Re(SX)) else 0, at F0
VPHI_REA_F0	CDF_REAL8[22]	km/s	Phase velocities estimated from the X projection of Maxwell-Faraday equation at F0
VPHI_ARG_F0	CDF_UINT1[22]		Argument bit = 1 if abs(Im(SX)) > abs(Re(SX)) else 0, at F0
SYNCHRO_FLAG	CDF_UINT1[1]		Flag to indicate if the local time is synchronized with the RPW DPU clock or not. Possible values: synchronized=0, not synchronized=1. This flag is extracted from ACQUISITION_TIME in L0 packets, it is the MSB of the CUC time.

Rules of use

Please read the text of the Rules_of_use global attribute in the CDF files.
See also in https://rpw-datacenter.obspm.fr/spip.php?article4.

Caveats and known issues

ISSUE	MITIGATION(S)

Release notes

See MODS global attribute in the CDF files for an history of the data modifications.

Authors

Thomas Chust, Rodrigue Piberne, Bruno Katra, Alexis Jeandet and Véronique Bouzid (retired).

References

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solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-cwf-e

Diane Berard — 2026-05-07T17:16:12Z

The data product solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-cwf-e contains continuous waveform for single-ended probe potentials and differential probe potentials. Only contains data which has been routed through LFR during selective burst mode 2 (SBM2; in-situ type III radio bursts; see instrument paper). Additionally contains bias currents.

Link to the data repository

Data files are available from the Solar Orbiter Archive home page.

Copies of the files are also stored in the LIRA local data repository.

Data product overview

Data product key facts
Type of data	Single-ended probe potential, differential probe voltage; bias current
Units	V, nA
Sampling rate	256 Hz
Data format	CDF (3.9.0)
Granularity	1 file per period of selective burst mode 2 (irregular)

Data organization

See table below for relevant zVariables stored in the CDF file.

NAME	TYPE	UNIT	DESCRIPTION
Epoch	CDF_TIME_TT2000 [1]	ns	Epoch time of the record.
BW	CDF_UINT1		BIAS Works/BIAS Fails configuration.
QUALITY_FLAG	CDF_UINT1		Numerical flag in the range 0-4 to indicate the quality of the data. Higher is better.
QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT2		Quality bitmask to indicate various quality-related conditions specific for L1 processing. The values are inherited from the parent data products.
L2_QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT2		Quality bitmask to indicate various quality-related conditions specific for L2 processing. The L3 data products inherit the values from the parent L2 data products.
DELTA_PLUS_MINUS	CDF_INT8	ns	Half the sample integration time. Half the bin size for downsampled data.
VDC	CDF_FLOAT	V	Calibrated single antenna signals, antennas 1-3. The dimensionality depends on whether the data product contains continuous waveform or snapshots.
EDC	CDF_FLOAT	V	Calibrated differential antenna signals (three). The dimensionality depends on whether the data product contains continuous waveform or snapshots.
EAC	CDF_FLOAT	V	Calibrated differential antenna signals (three), high-pass filtered with roll-on at 50 Hz. The dimensionality depends on whether the data product contains continuous waveform or snapshots.
IBIAS1	CDF_FLOAT	nA	Calibrated bias current on antenna 1.
IBIAS2	CDF_FLOAT	nA	Calibrated bias current on antenna 2.
IBIAS3	CDF_FLOAT	nA	Calibrated bias current on antenna 3.
SAMPLING_RATE	CDF_FLOAT	Hz	Sampling rate. For snapshots, this refers to the sampling rate of samples within the snapshots.
SYNCHRO_FLAG	CDF_UINT1		Flag to indicate if the local time is synchronized with the RPW DPU clock or not. Possible values: synchronized=0, not synchronized=1.

Rules of use

Please read the text of the Rules_of_use global attribute in the CDF files.
See also in https://rpw-datacenter.obspm.fr/spip.php?article4.

Caveats and known issues

ISSUE	MITIGATION(S)
RPW MY (3) electrical antenna signal was lost intermittently between November 13th and March 15th. Corresponding BIAS data were impacted.	None yet. Data products for the affected time interval are not yet available. Future data products will have a specific entry added for the global attribute CAVEATS and zVariable QUALITY_FLAG zVariable capped at 1 for impacted records.
Cases of saturation of signals, mostly rare except for the period Dec 2022 to Feb 2023	zVariable L2_QUALITY_BITMASK contains information on the presence of saturated data. zVariable QUALITY_FLAG capped at 0 (full saturation) or 1 (partial saturation).
Thruster firings sometimes affect the data.	zVariable QUALITY_FLAG capped at 1.

Release notes

See MODS global attribute in the CDF files for an history of the data modifications.

Authors

Erik P G Johansson

References

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solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm1-cwf-e

Diane Berard — 2026-05-07T17:15:19Z

The data product solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm1-cwf-e contains continuous waveform for single-ended probe potentials and differential probe potentials. Only contains data which has been routed through LFR during selective burst mode 1 (SBM1; interplanetary shock crossings; see instrument paper). Additionally contains bias currents.

Link to the data repository

Data files are available from the Solar Orbiter Archive home page.

Copies of the files are also stored in the LIRA local data repository.

Data product overview

Data product key facts
Type of data	Single-ended probe potential, differential probe voltage; bias current
Units	V, nA
Sampling rate	4096 Hz
Data format	CDF (3.9.0)
Granularity	1 file per period of selective burst mode 1 (irregular)

Data organization

See table below for relevant zVariables stored in the CDF file.

NAME	TYPE	UNIT	DESCRIPTION
Epoch	CDF_TIME_TT2000 [1]	ns	Epoch time of the record.
BW	CDF_UINT1		BIAS Works/BIAS Fails configuration.
QUALITY_FLAG	CDF_UINT1		Numerical flag in the range 0-4 to indicate the quality of the data. Higher is better.
QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT2		Quality bitmask to indicate various quality-related conditions specific for L1 processing. The values are inherited from the parent data products.
L2_QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT2		Quality bitmask to indicate various quality-related conditions specific for L2 processing. The L3 data products inherit the values from the parent L2 data products.
DELTA_PLUS_MINUS	CDF_INT8	ns	Half the sample integration time. Half the bin size for downsampled data.
VDC	CDF_FLOAT	V	Calibrated single antenna signals, antennas 1-3. The dimensionality depends on whether the data product contains continuous waveform or snapshots.
EDC	CDF_FLOAT	V	Calibrated differential antenna signals (three). The dimensionality depends on whether the data product contains continuous waveform or snapshots.
EAC	CDF_FLOAT	V	Calibrated differential antenna signals (three), high-pass filtered with roll-on at 50 Hz. The dimensionality depends on whether the data product contains continuous waveform or snapshots.
IBIAS1	CDF_FLOAT	nA	Calibrated bias current on antenna 1.
IBIAS2	CDF_FLOAT	nA	Calibrated bias current on antenna 2.
IBIAS3	CDF_FLOAT	nA	Calibrated bias current on antenna 3.
SAMPLING_RATE	CDF_FLOAT	Hz	Sampling rate. For snapshots, this refers to the sampling rate of samples within the snapshots.
SYNCHRO_FLAG	CDF_UINT1		Flag to indicate if the local time is synchronized with the RPW DPU clock or not. Possible values: synchronized=0, not synchronized=1.

Rules of use

Please read the text of the Rules_of_use global attribute in the CDF files.
See also in https://rpw-datacenter.obspm.fr/spip.php?article4.

Caveats and known issues

ISSUE	MITIGATION(S)
RPW MY (3) electrical antenna signal was lost intermittently between November 13th and March 15th. Corresponding BIAS data were impacted.	None yet. Data products for the affected time interval are not yet available. Future data products will have a specific entry added for the global attribute CAVEATS and zVariable QUALITY_FLAG zVariable capped at 1 for impacted records.
Cases of saturation of signals, mostly rare except for the period Dec 2022 to Feb 2023	zVariable L2_QUALITY_BITMASK contains information on the presence of saturated data. zVariable QUALITY_FLAG capped at 0 (full saturation) or 1 (partial saturation).
Thruster firings sometimes affect the data.	zVariable QUALITY_FLAG capped at 1.

Release notes

See MODS global attribute in the CDF files for an history of the data modifications.

Authors

Erik P G Johansson

References

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solo_L3_mag-rpw-scm-merged-4096

Diane Berard — 2025-10-14T16:08:23Z

The solo_L3_mag-rpw-scm-merged-4096 data product is generated from solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-rtn-4096 to display the magnetic field spectra evolution below 2048 Hz of the 3 components in the RTN frame.
There are two pages: the first shows the density spectrograms of the three components of the magnetic field, and the second shows the median spectrum over the period and the spectrogram of density ratios relative to the median spectrum.
On each spectrogram, the magnetic field curve is superimposed with its own scale on the right.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.57780/esa-3xcjd4w

Data product key facts
Type of data	Density Spectrum of the magnetic field	Magnetic field
Intensity units	log(nT^2/Hz) for page 1, log(ratio) for page 2	nT
X-axis quantity	Time
X-axis units	Hours, Minutes, Seconds (HH:MN:SS)
X-axis resolution	4 s when continuous data ; otherwise from 22 s to 300 s	4 ms when continuous data ; otherwise from 22 s to 300 s
X-axis range	[first sample time, last sample time]
X-axis scale	Linear
Y-axis quantity	Frequency	Amplitude
Y-axis units	Hz	nT
Y-axis resolution	0.25 Hz when continuous data ; otherwise 2 Hz	adaptive
Y-axis range	[0 Hz, 2048 Hz]	adaptive: twice the global range
Y-axis scale	Logarithmic	Linear
Data format	PNG
Granularity	1 file per day

To display it

Visit Display data page and select the type of data : MAG/SCM merged spectrum 4096 Hz (Survey L3)

Authors

Matthieu Kretzschmar and Jean-Yves Brochot.

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solo_L3_mag-rpw-scm-merged-256

Diane Berard — 2025-10-14T16:06:15Z

The solo_L3_mag-rpw-scm-merged-256 data product is generated from solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-rtn-256 to display the magnetic field spectra evolution below 128 Hz of the 3 components in the RTN frame.
There are two pages: the first shows the density spectrograms of the three components of the magnetic field, and the second shows the median spectrum over the period and the spectrogram of density ratios relative to the median spectrum.
On each spectrogram, the magnetic field curve is superimposed with its own scale on the right.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.57780/esa-3xcjd4w

Data product key facts
Type of data	Density Spectrum of the magnetic field	Magnetic field
Intensity units	log(nT^2/Hz) for page 1, log(ratio) for page 2	nT
X-axis quantity	Time
X-axis units	Hours, Minutes, Seconds (HH:MN:SS)
X-axis resolution	40 s when continuous data ; otherwise from 22 s to 300 s	0.0625 s when continuous data ; otherwise from 22 s to 300 s
X-axis range	[first sample time, last sample time]
X-axis scale	Linear
Y-axis quantity	Frequency	Amplitude
Y-axis units	Hz	nT
Y-axis resolution	0.025 Hz when continuous data ; otherwise 0.125 Hz	adaptive
Y-axis range	[0 Hz, 128 Hz]	adaptive: twice the global range
Y-axis scale	Logarithmic	Linear
Data format	PNG
Granularity	1 file per day

To display it

Visit Display data page and select the type of data : MAG/SCM merged spectrum 256Hz (Survey L3)

Authors

Matthieu Kretzschmar and Jean-Yves Brochot.

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solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-srf-4096

Diane Berard — 2025-10-14T15:59:08Z

The data product solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-srf-4096 provides the merged magnetic field continuous waveforms of the three components from continuous up to 2048 Hz.

Link to the data repository

Data files are available from the Solar Orbiter Archive home page.

Copies of the files are also stored in the LIRA local data repository.

Data product overview

The merged data are obtained using Burst data of the MAG instrument and the SCM data of LFR analyzer of the Solar Orbiter/RPW instrument. More specifically, it uses:
• solo_L2_mag-srf-burst (sampled at 64 Hz or 128 Hz)
• solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-cwf-b (sampled at 256 Hz)
• solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf-b (only when sampled at 256 Hz)
• solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-swf-b (only snapshots at 256 Hz)

This data product has been produced following the method described in this article.

The magnetic field is expressed in the RTN frame of reference.

Data product key facts
Type of data	Continuous waveform of the magnetic field
Unit	nT
Sampling rate	4096 Hz
Data format	CDF
File name	solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-srf-4096_[YYYYMMDD]_V[version].cdf
Granularity	1 file per day
Expected data volume	30 MBytes per file

Data organization

Table below gives the name, data type, units and description of the zVariables stored in the CDF file.

NAME	TYPE	UNIT	DESCRIPTION
Epoch	CDF_TIME_TT2000	ns	Primary time used as a reference in the file. Corresponds to the time of the first sample of the snapshot.
B_SRF	CDF_REAL4[3]	nT	3 entries array with magnetic field values (Bxsrf, Bysrf, Bzsrf) in SRF frame
MERGED_BITMASK	CDF_UINT1		Origin of the merged data: bit0: solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-swf-b sampled at 256 Hz bit2: solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf-b sampled at 256 Hz bit3: solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-cwf-b sampled at 256 Hz bit6: solo_L2_mag-srf-burst sampled at 64 Hz bit7: solo_L2_mag-srf-burst sampled at 128 Hz.
QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT2		Flag to indicate any context or events that can alterate data bit0: a very short input MAG vector was used, resampling may introduce artifacts bit1: unexpected VECTOR_RANGE (0 or 1), incorrect MAG calibration
QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG	CDF_UINT2		This is a bitwise variable, meaning that multiple flagscan be set for a single time, by adding flag values: bit0: INBOARDPRIMARY, L2 data is from inboard sensor bit1: SCETUNSYNC, instrument time not synchronised with SC time bit2: MAGHEATERON, MAG heater operating bit3: TONEREMOVED, interference tones were detected and removed from this data point bit4: THRUSTERREMOVED thrusters were firing and influence has been removed from this data point bit5: SCINTERFERENCE, SC generated interference detected but not removed bit6: SAMOVEMENT, solar array movement occurred bit7: INSTRUMENTREMOVED, interference field signal from another instrument operation has been detected and removed; Refer to [RD1] for more information on how these flags are generated.
QUALITY_BITMASK_SCM	CDF_UINT2		Flag to indicate any context or events that can alterate data: bit0: SCM outworking or unknown temperature bit1: SCM heater on/off transition bit2: LFR onboard calibration signal
QUALITY_FLAG	CDF_UINT1		Flag to indicate the quality of the data from 0: Bad to 4: Excellent
SAMPLING_RATE	CDF_REAL4	Hz	Sampling frequency = 4096 Hz
CARTESIAN_REPRESENTATION	CDF_CHAR[3]		Cartesian representation of a magnetic vector
MAG_LABEL_SRF	CDF_CHAR[3]		Labels of the Magnetic fields components in the SRF frame = (Bxsrf, Bysrf, Bzsrf)
MERGED_LABEL	CDF_CHAR[256]		Merged data in text form, indexed by MERGED_BITMASK (from 0 to 255)

Caveats and known issues

ISSUE	MITIGATION(S)
MAG L2 data is from inboard sensor	Bit0 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
MAG time not synchronised with SC time	Bit1 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
MAG heater operating	Bit2 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
Interference tone were detected in MAG frequency range and removed from this MAG data point	Bit3 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
Thrusters were firing and influence has been removed from this MAG data point	Bit4 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
SC generated interference tones were detected in MAG data but not removed	Bit5 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
Solar array movement occurred	Bit6 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
Interference field signal from another instrument operation has been detected in MAG data and removed	Bit7 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
The magnetic field is greatly disturbed when the SCM heaters are switched on and off.	When the heater signature could be located in the signal, it was subtracted before calibration, bit1 of QUALITY_BITMASK_SCM is set to 1 and QUALITY_FLAG is capped to 2
LFR calibration signal is sometimes superimposed on the interplanetary magnetic field	bit2 of QUALITY_BITMASK_SCM is set to 1 and QUALITY_FLAG is capped to 2
When the input MAG vector used is very short, the resulting data may be corrupted or lack precision.	bit0 of QUALITY_BITMASK is set to 1 and QUALITY_FLAG is capped to 2
When MAG uses unexpected VECTOR_RANGE (0 or 1) it results in incorrect MAG calibration	bit1 of QUALITY_BITMASK is set to 1 and QUALITY_FLAG is capped to 2
Interferences from spacecraft equipment are present above the sensitivity of SCM at 8 Hz, 16 Hz and harmonics. Other interferences can be noted at 1.3 Hz and harmonics	Peaks caused by these interferences are easily identifiable in the power spectrum

Release notes

See MODS global attribute in the CDF files for an history of the data modifications.

Authors

Matthieu Kretzschmar and Jean-Yves Brochot.

References

• The Solar Orbiter Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument, Maksimovic et al., A&A, 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201936214)
• The Solar Orbiter magnetometer, T. S. Horbury et al., A&A, 2020
(https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201937257)
• Measurement of magnetic field fluctuations in the Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter missions., Jannet et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JA028543)
• The Solar Orbiter merged magnetic field, M. Kretzschmar et al, A&A, 2025 (https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202554731)
• Metadata Definition for Solar Orbiter Science Data, Helen R. Middleton
• RPW Data Product Description Document (DPDD)
• RPW SCM Waveform Data User Manual
• NASA CDF Web portal

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solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-rtn-4096

Diane Berard — 2025-10-14T15:58:05Z

The data product solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-rtn-4096 provides the merged magnetic field continuous waveforms of the three components from continuous up to 2048 Hz.

Link to the data repository

Data files are available from the Solar Orbiter Archive home page.

Copies of the files are also stored in the LIRA local data repository.

Data product overview

This data product has been produced following the method described in this article.

The magnetic field is expressed in the RTN frame of reference.

Data product key facts
Type of data	Continuous waveform of the magnetic field
Unit	nT
Sampling rate	4096 Hz
Data format	CDF
File name	solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-rtn-4096_[YYYYMMDD]_V[version].cdf
Granularity	1 file per day
Expected data volume	30 MBytes per file

Data organization

Table below gives the name, data type, units and description of the zVariables stored in the CDF file.

NAME	TYPE	UNIT	DESCRIPTION
Epoch	CDF_TIME_TT2000	ns	Primary time used as a reference in the file. Corresponds to the time of the first sample of the snapshot.
B_RTN	CDF_REAL4[3]	nT	3 entries array with magnetic field values (Br, Bt, Bn) in RTN frame
MERGED_BITMASK	CDF_UINT1		Origin of the merged data: bit0: solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-swf-b sampled at 256 Hz bit2: solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf-b sampled at 256 Hz bit3: solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-cwf-b sampled at 256 Hz bit6: solo_L2_mag-srf-burst sampled at 64 Hz bit7: solo_L2_mag-srf-burst sampled at 128 Hz.
QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT2		Flag to indicate any context or events that can alterate data bit0: a very short input MAG vector was used, resampling may introduce artifacts bit1: unexpected VECTOR_RANGE (0 or 1), incorrect MAG calibration
QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG	CDF_UINT2		This is a bitwise variable, meaning that multiple flagscan be set for a single time, by adding flag values: bit0: INBOARDPRIMARY, L2 data is from inboard sensor bit1: SCETUNSYNC, instrument time not synchronised with SC time bit2: MAGHEATERON, MAG heater operating bit3: TONEREMOVED, interference tones were detected and removed from this data point bit4: THRUSTERREMOVED thrusters were firing and influence has been removed from this data point bit5: SCINTERFERENCE, SC generated interference detected but not removed bit6: SAMOVEMENT, solar array movement occurred bit7: INSTRUMENTREMOVED, interference field signal from another instrument operation has been detected and removed; Refer to [RD1] for more information on how these flags are generated.
QUALITY_BITMASK_SCM	CDF_UINT2		Flag to indicate any context or events that can alterate data: bit0: SCM outworking or unknown temperature bit1: SCM heater on/off transition bit2: LFR onboard calibration signal
QUALITY_FLAG	CDF_UINT1		Flag to indicate the quality of the data from 0: Bad to 4: Excellent
SAMPLING_RATE	CDF_REAL4	Hz	Sampling frequency = 4096 Hz
CARTESIAN_REPRESENTATION	CDF_CHAR[3]		Cartesian representation of a magnetic vector
MAG_LABEL_RTN	CDF_CHAR[3]		Labels of the Magnetic fields components in the RTN frame = (Br, Bt, Bn)
MERGED_LABEL	CDF_CHAR[256]		Merged data in text form, indexed by MERGED_BITMASK (from 0 to 255)

Caveats and known issues

ISSUE	MITIGATION(S)
MAG L2 data is from inboard sensor	Bit0 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
MAG time not synchronised with SC time	Bit1 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
MAG heater operating	Bit2 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
Interference tone were detected in MAG frequency range and removed from this MAG data point	Bit3 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
Thrusters were firing and influence has been removed from this MAG data point	Bit4 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
SC generated interference tones were detected in MAG data but not removed	Bit5 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
Solar array movement occurred	Bit6 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
Interference field signal from another instrument operation has been detected in MAG data and removed	Bit7 of QUALITY_BITMASK_MAG is set to 1
The magnetic field is greatly disturbed when the SCM heaters are switched on and off.	When the heater signature could be located in the signal, it was subtracted before calibration, bit1 of QUALITY_BITMASK_SCM is set to 1 and QUALITY_FLAG is capped to 2
LFR calibration signal is sometimes superimposed on the interplanetary magnetic field	bit2 of QUALITY_BITMASK_SCM is set to 1 and QUALITY_FLAG is capped to 2
When the input MAG vector used is very short, the resulting data may be corrupted or lack precision.	bit0 of QUALITY_BITMASK is set to 1 and QUALITY_FLAG is capped to 2
When MAG uses unexpected VECTOR_RANGE (0 or 1) it results in incorrect MAG calibration	bit1 of QUALITY_BITMASK is set to 1 and QUALITY_FLAG is capped to 2
Interferences from spacecraft equipment are present above the sensitivity of SCM at 8 Hz, 16 Hz and harmonics. Other interferences can be noted at 1.3 Hz and harmonics	Peaks caused by these interferences are easily identifiable in the power spectrum

Release notes

See MODS global attribute in the CDF files for an history of the data modifications.

Authors

Matthieu Kretzschmar and Jean-Yves Brochot.

References

Return to Data products description mainpage