RPW Data Center

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.

Return to Data products description mainpage

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.

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

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 (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.

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

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)
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 (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.

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

solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-srf-256

Diane Berard — 2025-10-14T15:55:42Z

The data product solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-srf-256 provides the merged magnetic field continuous waveforms of the three components from continuous up to 128 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	256 Hz
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.

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 = 256 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

Return to Data products description mainpage

solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-rtn-256

Diane Berard — 2025-10-14T15:52:34Z

The data product solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-rtn-256 provides the merged magnetic field continuous waveforms of the three components from continuous up to 128 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- sbm1-cwf-b (sampled at 4096 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	256 Hz
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.

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 = 256 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

Science data products description

Diane Berard — 2025-10-08T14:55:20Z

The list of RPW data products publicly released is provided below, sorted by type (numerical or image) and processing levels (L3, L2).
Click on a given product name to open a page presenting detailed information.
Please visit this page for the list of uncalibrated data (L1 and L0 levels).

The metadata model to be followed by the RPW data products are presented in the Metadata Definition for Solar Orbiter Science Data document issued by ESA. It includes the file naming convention, data versioning, data processing levels definition, data formats, metadata, etc.
Some standards are also reported on this dedicated webpage for convenience.

Additional references about RPW data and officiel data user guide for each sub-system in PDF can be found at the bottom of the page.
Visit webpage What is RPW ? for more details about RPW hardware and flight software modes.

Numerical data products

The numerical data products stores the RPW science data - time series, spectra, waveforms, histograms and basic parameters - measured for all the acquisition modes of the instrument.

The science data recorded in the SURVEY_NORMAL and SURVEY_BURST modes are saved in a same file for a given day. The data acquired in the DETECTION_MODE mode during an "SBM1" event (in situ shock crossing) or "SBM2" event (type III solar radio burst langmuir waves) are written in separated files (one per event).

All RPW numerical data products are written in CDF format files.

Added-value science data products (L3)

RPW L3 products contain added-value science data, time-stamped (i.e., TT2000 Epoch time) and organized by sub-system, mode and type of measurement.

Product name	Content
BIAS
solo_L3_rpw-bia-density	Local plasma density computed from spacecraft potential
solo_L3_rpw-bia-density-10-seconds	Downsampled version of solo_L3_rpw-bia-density (10-seconds averaged)
solo_L3_rpw-bia-efield	Local E-field vector computed from LFR/BIAS data, in two dimensions when unsaturated DC diff data is available.
solo_L3_rpw-bia-efield-10-seconds	Downsampled version of solo_L3_rpw-bia-efield. (10-seconds averaged)
solo_L3_rpw-bia-scpot	Spacecraft potential. Derived either from probe 1 or all three probes combined depending on what DC data is available.
solo_L3_rpw-bia-scpot-10-seconds	Downsampled version of solo_L3_rpw-bia-scpot (10-seconds averaged)
TNR-HFR
solo_L3_rpw-tnr-fp	Plasma frequency peak derived from TNR L2 data
solo_L3_rpw-hfr-surv-flux	High frequency [1-16 MHz] E-field spectra (W/m^2/Hz)
solo_L3_rpw-tnr-surv-flux	Low frequency [0.004-1 MHz] E-field spectra (W/m^2/Hz)
SCM and MAG merged data
solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-rtn-256	Continuous magnetic waveform data covering frequencies from DC to 128 Hz: array 3 x nt with nt measurements of Br, Bt, and Bn waveform in the RTN frame and in nT, sampled at 256 Hz.
solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-srf-256	Continuous magnetic waveform data covering frequencies from DC to 128 Hz: array 3 x nt with nt measurements of Bx, By, and Bz waveform in the SRF frame and in nT, sampled at 256 Hz.
solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-rtn-4096	Continuous magnetic waveform data covering frequencies from DC to 2048 Hz: array 3 x nt with nt measurements of Br, Bt, and Bn waveform in the RTN frame and in nT, sampled at 4096 Hz.
solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-srf-4096	Continuous magnetic waveform data covering frequencies from DC to 2048 Hz: array 3 x nt with nt measurements of Bx, By, and Bz waveform in the SRF frame and in nT, sampled at 4096 Hz.

Calibrated science data products (L2)

RPW L2 products are calibrated data, time-stamped (i.e., TT2000 Epoch time) and organized by sub-system, mode and type of measurement.

Product name	Content
TNR-HFR
solo_L2_rpw-hfr-surv	High frequency [1-16 MHz] E-field spectra (V^2/Hz)
solo_L2_rpw-tnr-surv	Low frequency [0.04-1 MHz] E- and B-fields spectra (V^2/Hz and nT/Hz^1/2)
LFR
solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-asm	E- and B-fields averaged spectral matrices computed on-board by LFR (calibrated)
solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-bp1	First set of basic parameters computed on-board by LFR (calibrated)
solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-bp2	Second set of basic parameters computed on-board by LFR (calibrated)
solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf-e	E-field continuous waveforms in LFR frequency range
solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-swf-e	E-field snapshot waveforms in LFR frequency range
TDS
solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-rswf-e	Regular (periodically captured) E-field waveform snapshots with variable length up to 65k samples sampled at 262 or 524 kHz.
solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-tswf-e	Triggered (classified on board) E-field waveform snapshots with variable length up to 65k samples sampled at 262 or 524 kHz.
solo_L2_rpw-tds-sbm1-rswf-e	E-field waveform snapshots with variable length up to 65k samples sampled at 262 or 524 kHz, acquired in the Selected Burst mode 1 (SBM1).
solo_L2_rpw-tds-sbm2-tswf-e	E-field waveform snapshots with variable length up to 65k samples sampled at 262 or 524 kHz, acquired in the Selected Burst mode 2 (SBM2).
solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-mamp	Time series of Maximum Absolute Amplitudes from up to four TDS channels with cadence between 8 and 250 milliseconds.
solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-stat	TDS Statistics calculated on board from waveform snapshots and released every 16 seconds.
solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-hist1d	TDS Statistics provided as 1D Histograms.
solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-hist2d	TDS Statistics provided as 2D Histograms.
SCM
solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm1-cwf-b	Continuous magnetic waveform data in SBM1 mode (shock crossing): array 3 x nt with nt measurements of Bx, By, and Bz waveform in the SCM and RTN frames and in nT, acquired at f1=4096Hz.
solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-cwf-b	Continuous magnetic waveform data in SBM2 mode (insitu Type III): array 3 x nt with nt measurements of Bx, By, and Bz waveform in the SCM and RTN frames and in nT, acquired at f2=256Hz.
solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf-b	Continuous magnetic waveform data in survey mode: array 3 x nt with nt measurements of Bx, By, and Bz waveform in the SCM and RTN frames and in nT, acquired at f3=16Hz and/or f2=256Hz.
solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-swf-b	Snapshot magnetic waveform data in survey mode: array 3 x nt x m with m timeseries of nt measurements (nt = 2048) of Bx, By, and Bz waveforms in the SCM and RTN frames and in nT, acquired successively at f2=256 Hz, f1=4096 Hz and f0=24576 Hz.
solo_L2_rpw-tds-sbm1-rswf-b	Regular Snapshot Waveform (RSWF) magnetic data in SBM1 mode (shock crossing) : array nt x m with m timeseries of nt measurements of Bx in SCM frame and in nT acquired at high frequency.
solo_L2_rpw-tds-sbm2-tswf-b	Triggered Snapshot Waveform (TSWF) magnetic data in SBM2 mode (in-situ Type III) : array nt x m with m timeseries of nt measurements of Bx in SCM frame and in nT acquired at high frequency.
solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-rswf-b	Regular Snapshot Waveform (RSWF) magnetic data in survey mode: array nt x m with m timeseries of nt measurements of Bx in SCM frame and in nT acquired at high frequency.
solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-tswf-b	Triggered Snapshot Waveform (TSWF) magnetic data in survey mode: array nt x m with m timeseries of nt measurements of Bx in SCM frame and in nT acquired at high frequency.

Image data products

Image files naming follows the same convention than numerical data for Solar Orbiter (see Data standards description).
They are labelled as L3 data level products.
RPW daily summary plots can be displayed and retrieved from the page Display RPW data.

All RPW image data products are written in PNG format files.

Daily summary plots

Table below gives the list of daily summary plots generated from RPW L2 data products.

Product name	Content
BIAS
solo_L3_rpw-bia	Daily summary plots generated from solo_HK_rpw-bia
LFR
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-asm-L2 F0, F1, F2	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-asm data respectively at F0, F1 and F2 in normal mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-bp1-L2 N-F0, N-F1, N-F2, B-F0, B-F1	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-bp1 data respectively at F0, F1 and F2 in normal mode and at F0 and F1 in Burst mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-bp2-L2 N-F0, N-F1, N-F2, B-F0, B-F1	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-bp2 data respectively at F0, F1 and F2 in normal mode and at F0 and F1 in Burst mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp1-L2 F0	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp1 data at F0 in SBM1 mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp2-L2 F0	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp2 data at F0 in SBM1 mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp1-L2 F0, F1	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp1 data at F0 and F1 in SBM2 mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp2-L2 F0, F1	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp2 data at F0 and F1 in SBM2 mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-asm-L1 F0, F1, F2	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L1_rpw-lfr-surv-asm data respectively at F0, F1 and F2 in normal mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-bp1-L1 N-F0, N-F1, N-F2, B-F0, B-F1	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L1_rpw-lfr-surv-bp1 data respectively at F0, F1 and F2 in normal mode and at F0 and F1 in Burst mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-bp2-L1 N-F0, N-F1, N-F2, B-F0, B-F1	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L1_rpw-lfr-surv-bp2 data respectively at F0, F1 and F2 in normal mode and at F0 and F1 in Burst mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp1-L1 F0	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L1_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp1 data at F0 in SBM1 mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp2-L1 F0	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L1_rpw-lfr-sbm1-bp2 data at F0 in SBM1 mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp1-L1 F0, F1	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L1_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp1 data at F0 and F1 in SBM2 mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp2-L1 F0, F1	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L1_rpw-lfr-sbm2-bp2 data at F0 and F1 in SBM2 mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf-L1 F2, F3	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L1_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf data at F2 and F3 in normal mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm1-cwf-L1 F1	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L1_rpw-lfr-sbm1-cwf data at F1 in SBM1 mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm2-cwf-L1 F2	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L1_rpw-lfr-sbm2-cwf data at F2 in SBM2 mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-swf-L1 F0, F1, F2	Daily summary plot generated from solo_L1_rpw-lfr-surv-swf data at F2 and F3 in normal mode
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf-e	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf-e data
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-swf-e	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-swf-e data
TDS
solo_L3_rpw-tds-surv-rswf-e	Daily summary time-frequency spectrograms generated from solo L2_rpw-tds-surv-rswf-e E-field measurements
solo_L3_rpw-tds-surv-stat	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-stat
solo_L3_rpw-tds-surv-tswf-e-spectrogram	Daily summary time-frequency spectrograms generated from solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-tswf-e E-field measurements.
solo_L3_rpw-tds-surv-tswf-e-waveform	Daily summary waveform snapshots for the triggering channel generated from solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-tswf-e E-field measurements.
solo_L3_rpw-tds-sbm1-rswf-e-spectrogram	Summary time-frequency spectrograms generated from solo L2_rpw-tds-sbm1-rswf-e E-field measurements on triggered interval.
solo_L3_rpw-tds-sbm2-tswf-e-spectrogram	Summary time-frequency spectrograms generated from solo_L2_rpw-tds-sbm2-tswf-e E-field measurements on triggered interval.
solo_L3_rpw-tds-sbm2-tswf-e-waveform	Summary waveform snapshots for the triggering channel generated from solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-tswf-e E-field measurements on triggered interval.
TNR-HFR
solo_L3_rpw-thr-surv	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-tnr-surv and solo_L2_rpw-hfr-surv. Only TNR E-field spectra are displayed.
solo_L3_rpw-thr-surv-filtered	Same than solo_L3_rpw-thr-surv, but filtered from some polluted signals ans background subtracted.
solo_L3_rpw-tnr-surv	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-tnr-surv. Only TNR E-field spectra are displayed.
solo_L3_rpw-tnr-surv-mag	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-tnr-surv. Only TNR B-field spectra (BMF) are displayed.
solo_L3_rpw-tnr-surv-qtn	Same than solo_L3_rpw-tnr-surv, but centered in Y-axis around the plasma peak frequency range.
SCM
For each quick-look, there are two pages: the first shows the spectrograms of the three components of the magnetic field, and the second shows the median spectrum over the day, and the spectrogram from which the median spectrum has been subtracted.
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf-b	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf-b (2 pages)
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-surv-swf-b	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-surv-swf-b (2 pages)
They are generated from RPW L2 data products. For one day, there are as many Burst summary plot files as there are Burst periods. For each quick-look, there are two pages: the first shows the spectrograms of the three components of the magnetic field, and the second shows the median spectrum over the period in question, and the spectrogram from which the median spectrum has been subtracted.
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm1-cwf-b	Burst period summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm1-cwf-b
solo_L3_rpw-lfr-sbm2-cwf-b	Burst period summary plots generated from solo_L2_rpw-lfr-sbm2-cwf-b
SCM/MAG merged plots
For each quick-look, there are two pages: the first shows the spectrograms of the three components of the magnetic field, and the second shows the median spectrum over the day, and the spectrogram from which the median spectrum has been subtracted.
solo_L3_mag-rpw-scm-merged-256	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-rtn-256 (2 pages)
solo_L3_mag-rpw-scm-merged-4096	Daily summary plots generated from solo_L3_multi-mag-rpw-scm-merged-rtn-4096 (2 pages)

Additional references

Metadata Definition for Solar Orbiter Science Data (html)
RPW Data Product Description Document (html or pdf)

PDF Data User Manual for each subsystem (used to create above pages)

L0 and L1 data products description

Diane Berard — 2025-10-07T11:22:51Z

The list of RPW raw and uncalibrated data products released publicly is provided below, sorted by processing levels (L1 and L0).
Click on a given product name to open the page given more details.
For details about science calibrated data (L3 and L2 levels), please visit this page.

The standards to be followed by the RPW data products are presented in the Metadata Definition for Solar Orbiter Science Data document issued by ESA. It includes the file naming convention, data versioning, data processing levels definition, data formats, metadata, etc.
Some standards are however reported on this dedicated webpage for convenience.

Numerical data products

Uncalibrated science data products (L1)

RPW L1 products contain uncalibrated data, time-stamped (i.e., TT2000 Epoch time) and organized by subsystem, mode and type of measurement. The file format is CDF.

Product name	Content
LFR
solo_L1_rpw-lfr-surv-cwf	E and B components Continuous Waveform in LFR frequency range in survey mode (uncalibrated)
solo_L1_rpw-lfr-surv-swf	E and B components Snapshot Waveform in LFR frequency range in survey mode (uncalibrated)
solo_L1_rpw-lfr-surv-asm	Averaged Spectral Matrices in LFR frequency range in survey mode (uncalibrated)
solo_L1_rpw-lfr-surv-bp1	Basic Parameters set 1 in LFR frequency range in survey mode (uncalibrated)
solo_L1_rpw-lfr-surv-bp2	Basic Parameters set 2 in LFR frequency range in survey mode (uncalibrated)
TDS
solo_L1_rpw-tds-surv-rswf	Regular (periodically captured) E- and B-field waveform snapshots with variable length up to 65k samples sampled at 262 or 524 kHz (uncalibrated).
solo_L1_rpw-tds-surv-tswf	Triggered (classified on board) E- and B-field waveform snapshots with variable length up to 65k samples sampled at 262 or 524 kHz (uncalibrated).
solo_L1_rpw-tds-surv-stat	TDS Statistics calculated on board from waveform snapshots and released every 16 seconds (uncalibrated).
solo_L1_rpw-tds-surv-mamp	Time series of Maximum Absolute Amplitudes from up to four TDS channels with cadence between 8 and 250 milliseconds (uncalibrated).
solo_L1_rpw-tds-surv-hist1d	TDS Statistics provided as 1D Histograms (uncalibrated).
solo_L1_rpw-tds-surv-hist2d	TDS Statistics provided as 2D Histograms (uncalibrated).
solo_L1_rpw-tds-sbm1-rswf	Burst mode (SBM1) E- and B-field waveform snapshots with variable length up to 65k samples sampled at 262 or 524 kHz (uncalibrated).
solo_L1_rpw-tds-sbm2-tswf	Burst mode (SBM2) E- and B-field waveform snapshots with variable length up to 65k samples sampled at 262 or 524 kHz (uncalibrated).
TNR-HFR
solo_L1_rpw-tnr-surv	Low frequency [0.04-1 MHz] E- and B-fields spectra (uncalibrated)
solo_L1_rpw-hfr-surv	High frequency [1-16 MHz] E-field spectra (uncalibrated)

Raw data products (L0)

L0 product contains RPW unpacked telemetry with raw data values (CCSDS format).
History of executed TC is also saved. The file format is HDF5.

Product name	Content
solo_L0_rpw	RPW telemetry (TM) and command (TC) raw data for a given day

Additional references

Metadata Definition for Solar Orbiter Science Data (html)
RPW Data Product Description Document (html or pdf)

PDF Data User Manual for each subsystem (used to create above pages)

Selected Burst Mode 1: possible IP shocks

Diane Berard — 2025-05-21T12:57:47Z

Because of intial reduced telemetry, an onboard algorithm for detecting IP shocks and retrieve their high cadency data has been developed by the RPW team (see instrument paper, DETECTION mode is described in section 4.2.2 and technical note for details about algorithm triggering). This algorithm uses internal, non fully calibrated MAG, SWA & RPW data. When those are not available, false detection may occur. This pages summarizes the type of events which have been detected by RPW and for which we might have 13-min of high cadence and high quality RPW data.

Table shows :

centered time of the supposed shock. Data have been acquired 13min around this time.
possible event type : This classification is done manually by Olga Alexandrova and might contain errors.
— Fast shocks : correlated magnetic field and density discontinuities
— Slow shocks : anticorrelated magnetic field and density discontinuities
— Pressure balance event : anticorrelated magnetic field and density without discontinuity and no velocity jump.
— Others : no clear classification
— Unidentified : not yet classified by RPW team
status of high cadency data retrieval :
— "Yes" : more than 80% of high cadency RPW data have been retrieved,
— "Partially" : less than 80%of high cadency RPW data have been retrieved,
— "No" : no high telemetry data have been downloaded on ground (due to telemetry constraints) but regular data are available;
summary plot link displaying parameters used onboard in automatic detection algorithm such as magnetic field from MAG, proton density and velocity from SWA. Those plots show the uncalibrated data used by RPW onboard to trigger.

If you see any mistake, please let Olga Alexandrova knows.

High cadency data might have been retrieved on ground (if available, see column "Retrieved") and will be available on Solar Orbiter Archive.
Regular data are always available during all this events evenso high cadency data are not. See also MAG and SWA data for multi-instrument study.

Export in csv is possible for all the events (no classification can be made before export). The export takes 1-2 minutes.

solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-hist2d

Diane Berard — 2025-03-17T10:23:44Z

The solo_L2_rpw-tds-surv-hist2d data product provides TDS statistics 2D histograms, measured in SURVEY NORMAL and BURST modes.

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

As a part of the on board processing described in the section 2.1, TDS can also build on-board histograms from wave, dust and snapshot parameters calculated by the algorithm. The parameters that can be included in the statistics include peak and RMS amplitude of snapshots and of identified waves, wave frequency, and the amplitude and width of identified dust spikes. It is possible to choose via telecommand up to two pairs of parameters to be used for building of two-dimensional histograms.

Data product key facts
Type of data	2D histograms
Intensity Units	Variable
Time resolution	0.1 sec to 5.4 seconds
Data format	CDF (3.9.0)
Granularity	1 file per day

Data organization

Each CDF record in the file contains one histogram from the TDS on board statistics accumulated over time in seconds indicated in HIST2D_COL_TIME variable. The statistic parameter is stored in HIST2D_PARAM and HIST2D_PARAM_LABEL. The numbers of histogram bins is given by HIST2D_BINS1 and HIST2D_BINS2. Histogram axes are stored in HIST2D_AXIS1 and HIST2D_AXIS2.

The Epoch time (CDF_TIME_TT2000) of each record represents the acquisition time of the first data sample in the accumulation time interval.

Missing or invalid data samples are represented using FILLVAL.

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.
CALIBRATION_TABLE_INDEX	CDF_UINT1[2]	unitless	Index of SWF calibration table
QUALITY_FLAG	CDF_UINT1	unitless	Flag to indicate the quality of the data. 0 – Bad data; 1 – Known problems, use at your own risk; 2 – Survey data, possibly not publication-quality; 3 Good for publication, subject to PI approval; 4 - Excellent data.
QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT2	unitless	Flag to indicate any context information or status at the receiver or experiment level. Forwarded from L1 data.
L2_QUALITY_BITMASK	CDF_UINT2	unitless	Flag to indicate any context information or status at the receiver or experiment level.
BIAS_ON	CDF_UINT1	unitless	Non-zero if BIAS powered on.
BIAS1_ON	CDF_UINT1	unitless	Non-zero if biasing active on ANT1.
BIAS2_ON	CDF_UINT1	unitless	Non-zero if biasing active on ANT2.
BIAS3_ON	CDF_UINT1	unitless	Non-zero if biasing active on ANT3.
BIAS_HV_ON	CDF_UINT1	unitless	Non-zero if BIAS High Voltage active.
BIAS_MUX_MODE	CDF_UINT1	unitless	BIAS MUX setting
SURVEY_MODE	CDF_UINT1	unitless Flag to indicate if the receiver in the SURVEY_BURST (=1) or SURVEY_NORMAL (=0) mode.
SAMPLING_RATE	CDF_REAL4	Hz	TDS sampling rate
INPUT_CONFIG	CDF_UINT4	unitless	TDS input configuration word (a raw value not to be interpreted, use CHANNEL_REF /TDS_LOWGAIN instead)
TDS_CONFIG_LABEL	CDF_CHAR	unitless	Text representation of TDS input configuration. Can be: “SE1”, “DIFF1” or “XLD1''. See Table 1. for interpretation.
SNAPSHOT_LEN	CDF_UINT4	samples	Length of snapshot in samples
CHANNEL_REF	CDF_UINT1	unitless	Configuration of the input signal for the histogram. A decadic number AB, where the digits A and B indicate a combination of RPW antennas in this channel (0=GND 1=V1, 2=V2, 3=V3). The number AB indicates that the corresponding channel contains a difference of 2 channels A-B. For example, value of 31 indicates dipole V3-V1.
HIST2D_ID	CDF_UINT1	unitless	An ID number of the histogram (1 or 2).
HIST2D_PARAMS	CDF_UINT1	unitless	The combination of parameters used to build this histogram.
HIST2D_PARAMS_LABEL CDF_CHAR unitless Label for hist2D parameters.
HIST2D_COL_TIME	CDF_UINT2	s	The time period over which this histogram has been built.
HIST2D_AXIS1	CDF_REAL4[128]	unitless	The X-axis (first parameter) of the histogram.
HIST2D_AXIS2	CDF_REAL4[128]	unitless	The Y-axis (second parameter) of the histogram
HIST2D_BINS1	CDF_UINT1	unitless	Number of X bins in the histogram.
HIST2D_BINS2	CDF_UINT1	unitless	Number of Y bins in the histogram.
HIST2D_TOT_SNAPSHOT	CDF_UINT2	unitless	Total number of snapshots processed when producing the histogram
HIST2D_COUNTS	CDF_UINT2[128, 128]	Counts	Counts corresponding to each bin in the histogram

Caveats and known issues

ISSUE	MITIGATION(S)
RPW MY (3) electrical antenna signal was lost intermittently between November 2023 and February 28, 2024. TDS acquisitions were impacted when measurements were performed on this antenna.	TDS receiver was switched into the monopole mode (SE1) configuration.

Release notes

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

Authors

David Pisa, and Jan Soucek.

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)
• NASA CDF Web portal

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