The Cluster Virtual Observatory for ULF Waves

Abstract

AbstractSince its launch in 2000, the Cluster fleet visited a vast domain of the circum‐terrestrial environment, from the upstream solar wind and the distant tail, down to the plasmasphere, scanning in detail all magnetospheric regions during over two solar cycles. This led to an unprecedentedly rich data collection of multi‐point measurements which will be used for years to come to decipher the mechanisms of Solar‐Terrestrial interactions. The large volume of data gathered by Cluster requires special strategies to make efficient use of it. To address this issue we constructed a browsable database containing parameters of the detected Ultra low frequency waves and of the spacecraft formation geometry. The primary data used to derive the parameters are the magnetic field, the electric field and the electron density. The data is resampled to a cadence of 1 s and processed using a sliding analysis window of 2,048 s with a step of 256 s over 24 hr intervals. This results in time‐frequency arrays for each parameter covering the 0.5 mHz to 0.5 Hz frequency range. The database is accessible at http://plasma.spacescience.ro/cluster.html. In total there are 47 wave parameters in the database, among them being the ellipticity, the degree of polarization, the (unsigned) wave vector direction, and the Poynting vector. Plots for the planarity, elongation, and degeneration of the Cluster tetrahedron are also available. At the moment, the database covers measurements made between 01 January 2001 and 31 December 2020 with more data being added in time. Here we present this database, discuss the methods used to derive the parameters and give practical examples.