Ion Flow Database - Specification


==========================================================================

W.K. Peterson and H L Collin,  October 2000 to February 2001

This is a summary data base....It does NOT contain detailed
energy step and pitch angle information for each data point.

==========================================================================

CONTENT:

 Extends over all altitudes, ILA and MLT.
     Below altitude of 4.0 Re 2 spin resolution.
     Above altitude of 4.0 Re 4 spin resolution.

 Includes all species. (H, He++, He+ and O+)
     Array numbering is the same as for TIMAS data products ie: 
     0 = H+, 2 = O+, 3 = He+, 4 = He++.

 Includes for each data interval:

   TIMAS Data:
     Ion outflow and its uncertainty (with loss cone correction ) /cm2 /s
     Net energy flux and its uncertainty (with loss cone correction )
     Moments and associated uncertainties of moments over the full energy 
     range for:
       Density      /cm3
       Vpar, Vperp  m/sec
       Tpar, Tperp  eV
     LENA_Channel for altitudes below 4.0 Re (geocentric) 
       Integral number flux and associated uncertainty for each ion
       from 15-300 eV in six 30-degree pitch angles bins. 
     Invalid data is indicated by a value of CDF_FILL and by a sigma
       value of BYTE_FILL.

   TIMAS ion flow classification - peak pitch-angle/energy bins.
     Three energy bands with breaks at 300 and 4000 eV.
     For each ion and each energy band:
       A) Select the pitch angle bin which has:
         1) A peak width (with neighboring bins) of <45 deg at half height.
         2) A peak height which is at least twice the average differential 
            number flux and is at least twice its own sigma and has  
            a sigma low enough to indicate there are adequate counts (>5).
         Record:
         1) The pitch-angle step number of the peak.
         2) The differential number flux of the pitch-angle peak 
            and its sigma.
       B) In the pitch-angle ranges of 0-90 and 90-180 select the energy 
            step whose pitch-angle averaged differential number flux is 
            a maximum and has a peak height which exceeds two sigma. 
         Record:
         1) The energy step number of the peak.
         2) The pitch-angle averaged differential number flux of the peak 
            and its sigma.
         3) The average differential number flux of that energy band 
            and its sigma.
     The step number is set to 128 (BYTE_FILL) if there is no usable data
       and to 64 (BYTE_FILL/2) if there is no clear peak. The corresponding 
       peak flux value is then set to CDF_FILL.
     Pitch angle bin numbering, and so also peak numbering, is relative to 
     the field direction with 0 being in the field direction, ie. towards 
     the north.


   Non-TIMAS Data:
     UT, altitude, invariant latitude, L shell, magnetic local time, 
       geomagnetic latitude (signed - n/s hemisphere)
     Average magnetic field vector in GSM coordinates at Polar (Uses 
       KH's co-ord conversion code).
     Spacecraft potential from EFI data base.
     Solar zenith angles at each end of the field line.
     Time delayed solar wind parameters from WIND (Using KH's database)
       Interpolated across data gaps of less than 10 minutes.
       IMF in GSM,  solar wind dynamic pressure (nPa),
       solar wind density (/cc),  solar wind velocity (km/sec).


   Quality flags.
     For each ion species.
         0    OK.
         1    Some data missing.
         2    > 5% data missing or a whole spin missing.
         3    No clear pitch-angle peak. *
         4    Fluence invalid.           *
         5    Energy flux invalid.       *
         6    Moments invalid.           *
         7    ...
         8    Warning flags set.
         9    Invalid pitch angles.
        ..    ...
        99    No valid data.
         * Not implemented.

     Full/Reduced energy range indication.
     FEC and BCR spin averages.
     Number of 6 second spins in this interval.
     Number of level-1 records included in this interval.

     Validity flags for non-TIMAS data.
        Potential value from EFI invalid/missing
        Solar zenith angles (north and south) invalid/missing
        Time delayed IMF invalid/missing
        Time delayed solar wind data invalid/missing
        Polar magentometer (pitch angle) data invalid/missing
        Polar orbit data invalid/missing

==========================================================================
Implemented on TIMAS Sun Workstations in C and IDL 

The Flow Data Base is stored in --FDB--- files

FDB binary files produced by a C program and stored on 
the TIMAS workstation at the University of Colorado.


One file for each day in binary format with a short header.

There is one data structure for each interval. 
  Fluxes etc are in 4-byte words. Errors, flags etc in 1-byte words.

C and IDL structures are defined to match the header and data.

C read is trivial.

IDL opens the file and reads the header. Then the day's data is 
  mapped to an array of structures. Selected data can then be put  
  into arrays for further analysis as required for each study.

==========================================================================