----------------------------- About using MSSP-3 interface ----------------------------- 1 ACE EPAM and Ulysses HISCALE hourly sectored fuxes ------------------------- There are 8 web pages now that allow users to retrieve directional EPAM/HISCALE fluxes of protons or Z>1 ions. In a given run, these directional fluxes are retrieved in any (4 or 8) sectors and in any of 25 energy bins, in the solar wind rest frame or in the spacecraft rest frame. Additionally, users may retrieve hourly, spin-integrated fluxes of protons and Z>1 ions from 2 extra web pages. For terminology, the "p" and "i" say fluxes of protons or Z>1 ions, respectively. LEFSXX and LEMSYY are names of instruments Users specify the time span over which the fluxes to be shown in the first spectral plot will be created. Note also that data from the end day specified will be included in the flux averaging. There are 8 web pages now that allow users to retrieve directional ACE EPAM fluxes that are equivalent to the Ulysses pages above. These are http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/ace_epam_flux_lems30p_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/ace_epam_flux_lems30i_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/ace_epam_flux_lems120p_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/ace_epam_flux_lems120i_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/ace_epam_flux_lefs60p_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/ace_epam_flux_lefs60i_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/ace_epam_flux_lefs150p_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/ace_epam_flux_lefs150i_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/ace_epam_flux_spin_p_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/ace_epam_flux_spin_i_1h.html ------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- For Ulysses/HISCALE data, the 8+2 web pages are http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/uly_hisc_flux_lems30p_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/uly_hisc_flux_lems30i_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/uly_hisc_flux_lems120p_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/uly_hisc_flux_lems120i_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/uly_hisc_flux_lefs60p_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/uly_hisc_flux_lefs60i_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/uly_hisc_flux_lefs150p_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/uly_hisc_flux_lefs150i_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/uly_hisc_flux_spin_p_1h.html http://omniweb.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftpbrowser/uly_hisc_flux_spin_i_1h.html ------------ Users may ensure that all plots of a given series of plot have a common Y-axis range by specifying a minimum and maximum flux in the "Y scale range" option near the bottom of the main interface page. Otherwise IDL will fix the scale range for each plot according to the data range on that plot. (Bottom of the range should not be less than 1.0e-6.) The horizontal error bars show energy bins, while the vertical error bars show standard deviations in flux averages (see discussion of averaging below). Since we plot spectra on a log-log scale, we fix a minimum flux value for plotting at 1.0E-06. No fluxes < 1.0E-06 are plotted. However, computed average values of fluxes and their standard deviations are listed via the "Listing of spectral function points ..." option on the plot pages. Having created the first spectral plot, a user may generate similar plots for contiguous intervals of the same duration by clicking on the "Previous" or "Next" button of the spectral plot page. Clicking on the "Home" button returns the user to the default version of the interface page. The output page with the spectral plot offers the option to list digital values associated with the plots, including energy bin minimum and maximum values and geometric means (where spectral points are plotted), the average fluxes and their standard deviations, and the numbers of individual fluxes in the flux averages. The spectral points for each source for each output plot are fitted to a power law, F = A * E ** b, where F and E are flux and energy, and where A and b are the fit parameters. A and b are determined by a linear least squares fit to the relation Log(F) = Log(A) + b * Log(E). The A and b values are also given on the digital output page. Zero fluxes are omitted from the fitting. Thus it is recommended that times of averaging be long enough that each energy bin has a non-zero average flux to yield meaningful power law fits across the full energy range The interface page's "Optional specifications" allow users to specify just a subset of the energy range of the data to be displayed and fitted. This may be useful if the full-energy-range spectral plots show a nearly straight line over only part of the full energy range. Computing the lower resolution fluxes - Ideally, one should determine a long-term flux using the total number of relevant counts over the interval and the total time of counting over the interval. However, since at least some of the data sets we hope to support with this interface provide fluxes and flux uncertainties but not all the counts and observing times for each such flux, we cannot determine longer term fluxes this way. Accordingly, we take simple linear flux averages and their standard deviations to determine longer term fluxes and their uncertainties. Note on plotted vertical error bars To avoid the down legs of vertical error bars frequently reaching to the bottom of the plot on our log scale, we fix the bottom of the vertical error bar at F = Fmin = **2/(+sigma). Thus the error bar goes up from Fmin to Fmax (=+sigma), with half way up the error bar on the log scale. We've used Fmax/ = /Fmin. The numeric value of the linearly computed standard deviation, sigma, is given via the "Listing of spectral function points..." option on the plot page. ------------------------------------------------------------------- This interface and its capabilities were developed by Natalia Papitashvili and Joe King as part of the Virtual Energetic Particle Observatory (VEPO) activity, John F. Cooper, Principal Investigator, carried out within NASA/Goddard's Space Physics Data Facility. -------------------------------------------------------------------