Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) Solar Energetic Particle Charge Analyser (SEPICA) Level 2 Data

The Solar Energetic Particle Charge Analyser (SEPICA) is used to determine the charge state distribution of energetic particle distributions. SEPICA is designed to measure the ionic charge state, Q, the kinetic energy, E, and the nuclear charge, Z, of energetic ions above 0.2 MeV/Nuc. This includes ions accelerated in solar flares as well as in interplanetary space during energetic storm particle (ESP) and co-rotating interaction region (CIR) events. For low mass numbers SEPICA will also separate isotopes -- for example, 3He and 4He. During solar quiet times, SEPICA should also be able to directly measure the charge states of anomalous cosmic ray nuclei, including H, N, O, and Ne, which are presumed to be singly-charged. With the capability to differentiate the charge states of ions, the instrument will also be able to separate neutral atoms (Q = 0) from ions. Thus it may be able to identify energetic neutrals created through charge exchange. SEPICA level 2 data is organized into 27-day time periods (Bartels Rotations - roughly one solar rotation period). For each Bartels Rotation, the level 2 data contains time averages of solar energetic particle fluxes over the following time periods: - 120-second (H and He only) - hourly - (all elements) daily - (all elements) 27 days (1 Bartels rotation) (all elements) Currently, spin-averaged flux data are available for 8 elements, in units of particles/(cm2*Sr*sec*MeV/nucleon), in a number of energy ranges. The energy ranges are different for each element. The elements for which data are available are: - H, He, C, O, Ne, Mg, Si and Fe. See: http://www.srl.caltech.edu/ACE/ASC/level2/sepica_l2desc.html