Release notes for PSP/FIELDS data release 16.1

RFS Level 3 HFR and LFR

RFS Level 3 HFR and LFR data are now available at:

https://research.ssl.berkeley.edu/data/psp/data/sci/fields/l3/rfs_hfr/
https://research.ssl.berkeley.edu/data/psp/data/sci/fields/l3/rfs_lfr/

RFS Level 3 files incorporate on-orbit calibrations and add useful supporting data to the Level 2 files.

In most cases, Level 3 variables are drop-in replacements for Level 2 variables. For example, the Level 3 variable psp_fld_l3_rfs_lfr_auto_averages_ch0_V1V2 corresponds to the data in the Level 2 variable psp_fld_l2_rfs_lfr_auto_averages_ch0_V1V2. However, in the Level 3 data:

  • improved corrections for intervals when the receiver was in low gain mode have been applied
  • background noise from the preamplifier and receiver analog section has been subtracted
  • for quantities where on-orbit calibrations of antenna effective length are available, variables in units of flux (Watts/m2/Hz) have been added. The effective length calculations are based on the values in Page et al 2022.

The Level 3 files contain supporting data including:

  • Antenna angles in RTN, J2000, and Jovian coordinates
  • Bias current applied to each antenna
  • Temperature of antenna preamplifiers and the RFS receiver
  • PSP spacecraft position in several coordinate systems.

Finally, the Level 3 files include useful summary variables which combine the two RFS channels to produce estimates of flux and circular polarization. These variables can be directly compared to the similar variables in the Level 3 STEREO CDF files.
For HFR, the summary variables are:

  • psp_fld_l3_rfs_hfr_PSD_FLUX
  • psp_fld_l3_rfs_hfr_PSD_SFU
  • psp_fld_l3_rfs_hfr_STOKES_V

For LFR, the summary variables are:

  • psp_fld_l3_rfs_lfr_PSD_FLUX
  • psp_fld_l3_rfs_lfr_PSD_SFU
  • psp_fld_l3_rfs_lfr_STOKES_V

Code Examples

The IDL code below will load and plot Level 3 RFS data from the HFR and LFR receivers. A recent version of SPEDAS must be installed in your IDL path.

timespan, '2019-04-02'
psp_fld_load, type = 'rfs_hfr', level = 3
psp_fld_load, type = 'rfs_lfr', level = 3
tplot, 'psp_fld_l3_rfs_?fr_PSD_FLUX', trange = ['2019-04-02/15:30', '2019-04-02/16:00']

The Python code below will also load and plot Level 3 RFS data. A recent version of pyspedas and pytplot must be installed in your Python environment.

import pyspedas
from pytplot import tplot
trange = ['2019-04-02/15:30', '2019-04-02/16:00']
pyspedas.psp.fields(trange=trange, time_clip=True, datatype='rfs_hfr', level='l3')
pyspedas.psp.fields(trange=trange, time_clip=True, datatype='rfs_lfr', level='l3')
tplot('psp_fld_l3_rfs_?fr_PSD_FLUX')

RFS Level 3

The RFS Level 3 rfs_lfr_qtn data has been updated and is publicly available through Encounter 15, at the link below:
https://research.ssl.berkeley.edu/data/psp/data/sci/fields/l3/rfs_lfr_qtn/