The Van Allen Probes Electric Field and Waves Instrument: Science Results, Measurements, and Access to Data

Aaron W Breneman; John R Wygant; Sheng Tian; C. A. Cattell; Scott A Thaller; Keith Goetz; E. Tyler; C. Colpitts; Lei Dai; K. Kersten; J. W. Bonnell; S. D. Bale; F. S. Mozer; P. R. Harvey; G. Dalton; R. E. Ergun; D. M. Malaspina; C. A. Kletzing; W. S. Kurth; G. B. Hospodarsky; C. Smith; R. H. Holzworth; S. Lejosne; O. Agapitov; A. Artemyev; M. K. Hudson; R. J. Strangeway; D. N. Baker; X. Li; J. Albert; J. C. Foster; P. J. Erickson; C. C. Chaston; I. Mann; E. Donovan; C. M. Cully; V. Krasnoselskikh; J. B. Blake; R. Millan

doi:10.1007/s11214-022-00934-y

The Van Allen Probes Electric Field and Waves Instrument: Science Results, Measurements, and Access to Data

Aaron W Breneman
, John R Wygant
, Sheng Tian
, C. A. Cattell
, Scott A Thaller
, Keith Goetz
, E. Tyler
, C. Colpitts
, Lei Dai
, K. Kersten
, J. W. Bonnell
, S. D. Bale
, F. S. Mozer
, P. R. Harvey
, G. Dalton
, R. E. Ergun
, D. M. Malaspina
, C. A. Kletzing
, W. S. Kurth
, G. B. Hospodarsky

C. Smith, R. H. Holzworth, S. Lejosne, O. Agapitov, A. Artemyev, M. K. Hudson, R. J. Strangeway, D. N. Baker, X. Li, J. Albert, J. C. Foster, P. J. Erickson, C. C. Chaston, I. Mann, E. Donovan, C. M. Cully, V. Krasnoselskikh, J. B. Blake, R. Millan

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Van Allen Probes Electric Fields and Waves (EFW) instrument provided measurements of electric fields and spacecraft floating potentials over a wide dynamic range from DC to 6.5 kHz near the equatorial plane of the inner magnetosphere between 600 km altitude and 5.8 Re geocentric distance from October 2012 to November 2019. The two identical instruments provided data to investigate the quasi-static and low frequency fields that drive large-scale convection, waves induced by interplanetary shock impacts that result in rapid relativistic particle energization, ultra-low frequency (ULF) MHD waves which can drive radial diffusion, and higher frequency wave fields and time domain structures that provide particle pitch angle scattering and energization. In addition, measurements of the spacecraft potential provided a density estimate in cold plasmas (<20eV) from 10 to 3000cm−3. The EFW instrument provided analog electric field signals to EMFISIS for wave analysis, and it received 3d analog signals from the EMFISIS search coil sensors for inclusion in high time resolution waveform data. The electric fields and potentials were measured by current-biased spherical sensors deployed at the end of four 50 m booms in the spacecraft spin plane (spin period ∼11sec) and a pair of stacer booms with a total tip-tip separation of 15 m along the spin axis. Survey waveform measurements at 16 and/or 32 S/sec (with a nominal uncertainty of 0.3 mV/m over the prime mission) were available continuously while burst waveform captures at up to 16,384 S/sec provided high frequency waveforms. This post-mission paper provides the reader with information useful for accessing, understanding and using EFW data. Selected science results are discussed and used to highlight instrument capabilities. Science quantities, data quality and error sources, and analysis routines are documented.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	69
Journal	Space Science Reviews
Volume	218
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-022-00934-y
State	Published - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The EFW team offers sincere thanks to the many Van Allen Probes scientists, engineers, management, and staff who contributed to the success of this project. We particularly thank D. Sibeck (LWS Mission Scientist) at NASA, and B. Mauk, N. Fox, A.Y. Ukhorskiy (Project Management), R. Harvey, and T. Sotirelis (Spacecraft Operations) at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). We are also grateful for support from our Van Allen Probes colleagues at EMFISIS (C. Kletzing), the ECT suite of instruments (H. Spence) including HOPE (G. Reeves), REPT (D. Baker), and MagEIS (J.B. Blake), BARREL (R. Millan, A. Halford, L. Woodger), as well as support involving collaborative campaigns including FIREBIRD (D. Klumpar, J. Sample, A. Johnson, M. Shumko), Aerocube 6 (J.B. Blake), WWLLN (R.H. Holzworth), and Arase (Y. Miyoshi). We additionally thank the many engineers, technicians, managers, and support staff at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Colorado, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and the University of Minnesota including: D. Pankow, D.W. Curtis, H. Richard, K. Harps, J. McCauley, P. Schroeder, J. McTiernan, J.B. Tao, M. Ludlam, P. Turin, M.K. Bolton, D.A. Gordon, B. Donakowski, J. Fischer, S. Heavner, P.C. Berg, C. Shultz, M. Diaz-Aguado, S. Boardsen, W. Rachelson, C. Ingraham, J. Hoberman, R.A. Hochman, M. Born, J. Vernetti, W. Teitler, G. Johnson, R. Jackson, M. Willer, M. Mendoza, H. Yuan, Y. Irwin, B. Dalen, T. McDonald, S. Marker, W. Cole, M. Karlsson, K. Stevens, D. Summers, S. Westfall, J. Lynch, S. Monson. Finally, thanks to those who supported EFW software development for the SPEDAS library including J. Lewis and V. Angelopoulos, and for data archiving including R.E. McGuire and R.M. Candey.

Funding Information:
The Van Allen Probes EFW project was supported by JHU/APL Contract No. 922613 under NASA’s Prime Contract No. NNN06AA01C.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.

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10.1007/s11214-022-00934-y

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Breneman, A. W., Wygant, J. R., Tian, S., Cattell, C. A., Thaller, S. A., Goetz, K., Tyler, E., Colpitts, C., Dai, L., Kersten, K., Bonnell, J. W., Bale, S. D., Mozer, F. S., Harvey, P. R., Dalton, G., Ergun, R. E., Malaspina, D. M., Kletzing, C. A., Kurth, W. S., ... Millan, R. (2022). The Van Allen Probes Electric Field and Waves Instrument: Science Results, Measurements, and Access to Data. Space Science Reviews, 218(8), Article 69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-022-00934-y

Breneman, AW, Wygant, JR, Tian, S, Cattell, CA, Thaller, SA, Goetz, K, Tyler, E, Colpitts, C, Dai, L, Kersten, K, Bonnell, JW, Bale, SD, Mozer, FS, Harvey, PR, Dalton, G, Ergun, RE, Malaspina, DM, Kletzing, CA, Kurth, WS, Hospodarsky, GB, Smith, C, Holzworth, RH, Lejosne, S, Agapitov, O, Artemyev, A, Hudson, MK, Strangeway, RJ, Baker, DN, Li, X, Albert, J, Foster, JC, Erickson, PJ, Chaston, CC, Mann, I, Donovan, E, Cully, CM, Krasnoselskikh, V, Blake, JB & Millan, R 2022, 'The Van Allen Probes Electric Field and Waves Instrument: Science Results, Measurements, and Access to Data', Space Science Reviews, vol. 218, no. 8, 69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-022-00934-y

@article{dcb554bcad4846e7bcc9b9028d79dff8,

title = "The Van Allen Probes Electric Field and Waves Instrument: Science Results, Measurements, and Access to Data",

abstract = "The Van Allen Probes Electric Fields and Waves (EFW) instrument provided measurements of electric fields and spacecraft floating potentials over a wide dynamic range from DC to 6.5 kHz near the equatorial plane of the inner magnetosphere between 600 km altitude and 5.8 Re geocentric distance from October 2012 to November 2019. The two identical instruments provided data to investigate the quasi-static and low frequency fields that drive large-scale convection, waves induced by interplanetary shock impacts that result in rapid relativistic particle energization, ultra-low frequency (ULF) MHD waves which can drive radial diffusion, and higher frequency wave fields and time domain structures that provide particle pitch angle scattering and energization. In addition, measurements of the spacecraft potential provided a density estimate in cold plasmas (<20eV) from 10 to 3000cm−3. The EFW instrument provided analog electric field signals to EMFISIS for wave analysis, and it received 3d analog signals from the EMFISIS search coil sensors for inclusion in high time resolution waveform data. The electric fields and potentials were measured by current-biased spherical sensors deployed at the end of four 50 m booms in the spacecraft spin plane (spin period ∼11sec) and a pair of stacer booms with a total tip-tip separation of 15 m along the spin axis. Survey waveform measurements at 16 and/or 32 S/sec (with a nominal uncertainty of 0.3 mV/m over the prime mission) were available continuously while burst waveform captures at up to 16,384 S/sec provided high frequency waveforms. This post-mission paper provides the reader with information useful for accessing, understanding and using EFW data. Selected science results are discussed and used to highlight instrument capabilities. Science quantities, data quality and error sources, and analysis routines are documented.",

author = "Breneman, \{Aaron W\} and Wygant, \{John R\} and Sheng Tian and Cattell, \{C. A.\} and Thaller, \{Scott A\} and Keith Goetz and E. Tyler and C. Colpitts and Lei Dai and K. Kersten and Bonnell, \{J. W.\} and Bale, \{S. D.\} and Mozer, \{F. S.\} and Harvey, \{P. R.\} and G. Dalton and Ergun, \{R. E.\} and Malaspina, \{D. M.\} and Kletzing, \{C. A.\} and Kurth, \{W. S.\} and Hospodarsky, \{G. B.\} and C. Smith and Holzworth, \{R. H.\} and S. Lejosne and O. Agapitov and A. Artemyev and Hudson, \{M. K.\} and Strangeway, \{R. J.\} and Baker, \{D. N.\} and X. Li and J. Albert and Foster, \{J. C.\} and Erickson, \{P. J.\} and Chaston, \{C. C.\} and I. Mann and E. Donovan and Cully, \{C. M.\} and V. Krasnoselskikh and Blake, \{J. B.\} and R. Millan",

note = "Funding Information: The EFW team offers sincere thanks to the many Van Allen Probes scientists, engineers, management, and staff who contributed to the success of this project. We particularly thank D. Sibeck (LWS Mission Scientist) at NASA, and B. Mauk, N. Fox, A.Y. Ukhorskiy (Project Management), R. Harvey, and T. Sotirelis (Spacecraft Operations) at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). We are also grateful for support from our Van Allen Probes colleagues at EMFISIS (C. Kletzing), the ECT suite of instruments (H. Spence) including HOPE (G. Reeves), REPT (D. Baker), and MagEIS (J.B. Blake), BARREL (R. Millan, A. Halford, L. Woodger), as well as support involving collaborative campaigns including FIREBIRD (D. Klumpar, J. Sample, A. Johnson, M. Shumko), Aerocube 6 (J.B. Blake), WWLLN (R.H. Holzworth), and Arase (Y. Miyoshi). We additionally thank the many engineers, technicians, managers, and support staff at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Colorado, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and the University of Minnesota including: D. Pankow, D.W. Curtis, H. Richard, K. Harps, J. McCauley, P. Schroeder, J. McTiernan, J.B. Tao, M. Ludlam, P. Turin, M.K. Bolton, D.A. Gordon, B. Donakowski, J. Fischer, S. Heavner, P.C. Berg, C. Shultz, M. Diaz-Aguado, S. Boardsen, W. Rachelson, C. Ingraham, J. Hoberman, R.A. Hochman, M. Born, J. Vernetti, W. Teitler, G. Johnson, R. Jackson, M. Willer, M. Mendoza, H. Yuan, Y. Irwin, B. Dalen, T. McDonald, S. Marker, W. Cole, M. Karlsson, K. Stevens, D. Summers, S. Westfall, J. Lynch, S. Monson. Finally, thanks to those who supported EFW software development for the SPEDAS library including J. Lewis and V. Angelopoulos, and for data archiving including R.E. McGuire and R.M. Candey. Funding Information: The Van Allen Probes EFW project was supported by JHU/APL Contract No. 922613 under NASA{\textquoteright}s Prime Contract No. NNN06AA01C. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.",

year = "2022",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1007/s11214-022-00934-y",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "218",

journal = "Space Science Reviews",

issn = "0038-6308",

publisher = "Springer Netherlands",

number = "8",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Van Allen Probes Electric Field and Waves Instrument

T2 - Science Results, Measurements, and Access to Data

AU - Breneman, Aaron W

AU - Wygant, John R

AU - Tian, Sheng

AU - Cattell, C. A.

AU - Thaller, Scott A

AU - Goetz, Keith

AU - Tyler, E.

AU - Colpitts, C.

AU - Dai, Lei

AU - Kersten, K.

AU - Bonnell, J. W.

AU - Bale, S. D.

AU - Mozer, F. S.

AU - Harvey, P. R.

AU - Dalton, G.

AU - Ergun, R. E.

AU - Malaspina, D. M.

AU - Kletzing, C. A.

AU - Kurth, W. S.

AU - Hospodarsky, G. B.

AU - Smith, C.

AU - Holzworth, R. H.

AU - Lejosne, S.

AU - Agapitov, O.

AU - Artemyev, A.

AU - Hudson, M. K.

AU - Strangeway, R. J.

AU - Baker, D. N.

AU - Li, X.

AU - Albert, J.

AU - Foster, J. C.

AU - Erickson, P. J.

AU - Chaston, C. C.

AU - Mann, I.

AU - Donovan, E.

AU - Cully, C. M.

AU - Krasnoselskikh, V.

AU - Blake, J. B.

AU - Millan, R.

N1 - Funding Information: The EFW team offers sincere thanks to the many Van Allen Probes scientists, engineers, management, and staff who contributed to the success of this project. We particularly thank D. Sibeck (LWS Mission Scientist) at NASA, and B. Mauk, N. Fox, A.Y. Ukhorskiy (Project Management), R. Harvey, and T. Sotirelis (Spacecraft Operations) at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). We are also grateful for support from our Van Allen Probes colleagues at EMFISIS (C. Kletzing), the ECT suite of instruments (H. Spence) including HOPE (G. Reeves), REPT (D. Baker), and MagEIS (J.B. Blake), BARREL (R. Millan, A. Halford, L. Woodger), as well as support involving collaborative campaigns including FIREBIRD (D. Klumpar, J. Sample, A. Johnson, M. Shumko), Aerocube 6 (J.B. Blake), WWLLN (R.H. Holzworth), and Arase (Y. Miyoshi). We additionally thank the many engineers, technicians, managers, and support staff at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Colorado, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and the University of Minnesota including: D. Pankow, D.W. Curtis, H. Richard, K. Harps, J. McCauley, P. Schroeder, J. McTiernan, J.B. Tao, M. Ludlam, P. Turin, M.K. Bolton, D.A. Gordon, B. Donakowski, J. Fischer, S. Heavner, P.C. Berg, C. Shultz, M. Diaz-Aguado, S. Boardsen, W. Rachelson, C. Ingraham, J. Hoberman, R.A. Hochman, M. Born, J. Vernetti, W. Teitler, G. Johnson, R. Jackson, M. Willer, M. Mendoza, H. Yuan, Y. Irwin, B. Dalen, T. McDonald, S. Marker, W. Cole, M. Karlsson, K. Stevens, D. Summers, S. Westfall, J. Lynch, S. Monson. Finally, thanks to those who supported EFW software development for the SPEDAS library including J. Lewis and V. Angelopoulos, and for data archiving including R.E. McGuire and R.M. Candey. Funding Information: The Van Allen Probes EFW project was supported by JHU/APL Contract No. 922613 under NASA’s Prime Contract No. NNN06AA01C. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.

PY - 2022/12

Y1 - 2022/12

N2 - The Van Allen Probes Electric Fields and Waves (EFW) instrument provided measurements of electric fields and spacecraft floating potentials over a wide dynamic range from DC to 6.5 kHz near the equatorial plane of the inner magnetosphere between 600 km altitude and 5.8 Re geocentric distance from October 2012 to November 2019. The two identical instruments provided data to investigate the quasi-static and low frequency fields that drive large-scale convection, waves induced by interplanetary shock impacts that result in rapid relativistic particle energization, ultra-low frequency (ULF) MHD waves which can drive radial diffusion, and higher frequency wave fields and time domain structures that provide particle pitch angle scattering and energization. In addition, measurements of the spacecraft potential provided a density estimate in cold plasmas (<20eV) from 10 to 3000cm−3. The EFW instrument provided analog electric field signals to EMFISIS for wave analysis, and it received 3d analog signals from the EMFISIS search coil sensors for inclusion in high time resolution waveform data. The electric fields and potentials were measured by current-biased spherical sensors deployed at the end of four 50 m booms in the spacecraft spin plane (spin period ∼11sec) and a pair of stacer booms with a total tip-tip separation of 15 m along the spin axis. Survey waveform measurements at 16 and/or 32 S/sec (with a nominal uncertainty of 0.3 mV/m over the prime mission) were available continuously while burst waveform captures at up to 16,384 S/sec provided high frequency waveforms. This post-mission paper provides the reader with information useful for accessing, understanding and using EFW data. Selected science results are discussed and used to highlight instrument capabilities. Science quantities, data quality and error sources, and analysis routines are documented.

AB - The Van Allen Probes Electric Fields and Waves (EFW) instrument provided measurements of electric fields and spacecraft floating potentials over a wide dynamic range from DC to 6.5 kHz near the equatorial plane of the inner magnetosphere between 600 km altitude and 5.8 Re geocentric distance from October 2012 to November 2019. The two identical instruments provided data to investigate the quasi-static and low frequency fields that drive large-scale convection, waves induced by interplanetary shock impacts that result in rapid relativistic particle energization, ultra-low frequency (ULF) MHD waves which can drive radial diffusion, and higher frequency wave fields and time domain structures that provide particle pitch angle scattering and energization. In addition, measurements of the spacecraft potential provided a density estimate in cold plasmas (<20eV) from 10 to 3000cm−3. The EFW instrument provided analog electric field signals to EMFISIS for wave analysis, and it received 3d analog signals from the EMFISIS search coil sensors for inclusion in high time resolution waveform data. The electric fields and potentials were measured by current-biased spherical sensors deployed at the end of four 50 m booms in the spacecraft spin plane (spin period ∼11sec) and a pair of stacer booms with a total tip-tip separation of 15 m along the spin axis. Survey waveform measurements at 16 and/or 32 S/sec (with a nominal uncertainty of 0.3 mV/m over the prime mission) were available continuously while burst waveform captures at up to 16,384 S/sec provided high frequency waveforms. This post-mission paper provides the reader with information useful for accessing, understanding and using EFW data. Selected science results are discussed and used to highlight instrument capabilities. Science quantities, data quality and error sources, and analysis routines are documented.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85142100991

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85142100991#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1007/s11214-022-00934-y

DO - 10.1007/s11214-022-00934-y

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85142100991

SN - 0038-6308

VL - 218

JO - Space Science Reviews

JF - Space Science Reviews

IS - 8

M1 - 69

ER -

The Van Allen Probes Electric Field and Waves Instrument: Science Results, Measurements, and Access to Data

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