Information
About LANL Energetic Particle Data
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has flown energetic particle (EP)
detectors on a series of programmatic geosynchronous satellites. The first
of these satellites was launched in 1976. The most recent satellite was
launched in 1994. The energetic particle detectors measure electrons and
positive ions with energies greater than 10s of keV. Two generations of
energetic particle instruments have been flown. Charged Particle Analyzers
(CPA) and Synchronous Orbit Particle Analyzers (SOPA). Satellites carrying
both generations of instruments continue to operate and provide data.
Please read the Satellites & Instruments
page for more information on the CPA and SOPA instruments. The sections
below provide more information on the data themselves.
Data Format
Data are stored in compressed binary format but are provided in tab-delimited
text format. When you request data we run a program which extracts the data
you need, formats it, averages it, converts it to flux (if desired), and
writes an text data file. Each data file contains data from one satellite
for one day. Text files include satellite ephemeris and a header which gives
the energy range for each column.
Data can also be provided as plots. Currently the standard plot shows 30-300
keV electron flux data from all satellites for an entire day on a single
page. Other plots can be produced by special request.
Leadbelly.lanl.gov - The energetic particle database server.
The Los Alamos Energetic Particle data server is called Leadbelly.lanl.gov.
The internet id number is 128.165.207.108
Leadbelly is a SUN SPARC-10 workstation with 33.5 GB of disk storage.
Internet services include anonymous FTP, guest login, and world wide web
service.
Leadbelly.lanl.gov is named after the blues singer "Leadbelly"
whose real name was Huddie Ledbetter.
Calibration and Data Reliability
We have adopted the philosophy that it is better to make data accessible
than to make it perfect. In general the data from the LANL geosynchronous
energetic particle detectors is quite reliable. However there are some known
problems. These include telemetry glitches, backgrounds from shielding-penetrating
particles, ephemeris errors, etc.
We intend to make detailed, specific information on data reliability and
calibration available on this page in the future. In the mean time we offer
this advice: Please keep us posted on what you are using the data for so
that we can help you avoid embarassment.
[TSPA] Reviewed by S-7: August, 2004
Page Last Modified: Wednesday, 18-Aug-2004 15:17:40 MDT
