SPEDAS (Space Physics Environment Data Analysis System) is an open-source data analysis tool intended for

Space Physics Space physics, also known as solar-terrestrial physics or space-plasma physics, is the study of plasmas as they occur naturally in the Earth's upper atmosphere (aeronomy) and within the Solar System. As such, it encompasses a far-ranging number of ...

users. It was developed using

Interactive Data Language IDL, short for Interactive Data Language, is a programming language used for data analysis. It is popular in particular areas of science, such as astronomy, atmospheric physics and medical imaging. IDL shares a common syntax with PV-Wave and or ...

(IDL).

Overview

SPEDAS is free software that can download and manipulate data from scientific space missions. It contains both a GUI (Graphical User Interface) and a command line mode for advanced users. It offers various tools for performing calculations and transformations of the data and for visualizing the results. Software modules can be developed for SPEDAS, extending its capabilities. It also includes a tool for downloading data from

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

servers usin
CDAWeb
SPEDAS evolved from software developed for the

THEMIS In Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Themis (; grc, Θέμις, Themis, justice, law, custom) is one of the twelve Titans, Titan children of Gaia and Uranus (mythology), Uranus, and the second wife of Zeus. She is the godde ...

mission, which was called TDAS (THEMIS Data Analysis Software). In turn, TDAS used IDL code developed previously for earlier missions going back to the 1990s. SPEDAS was developed by scientists and programmers of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Space Sciences Laboratory The Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) is an Organized Research Unit (ORU) of the University of California, Berkeley. Founded in 1959, the laboratory is located in the Berkeley Hills above the university campus. It has developed and continues t ...

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

'
IGPP
and other contributors.

Deployment

Three different types of SPEDAS deployment are available: * Source code. The full IDL code for SPEDAS is available as a zip file download. To use this, users must install and license IDL from Exelis. * Save file. IDL save files can run in a free but restricted version of IDL, called IDL Virtual Machine (VM). Users have to download IDL VM from Exelis, install it and register with Exelis before they can use the SPEDAS save file. * Executable file. This distribution contains executable files for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. In this case, users do not have to separately install and download anything else.

Plugins

One of the main goals of SPEDAS is to accommodate the needs of different NASA missions. Towards this goal, its architecture is modular. Users can develop plugins for loading data, for configuration and for specialized calculations or operations on the data. Version 3.1 of SPEDAS includes plugins for loading data from the following missions or data sets: *

MMS MMS may refer to: Science and technology Network communication protocols * Multimedia Messaging Service for mobile phones * Microsoft Media Server, a content-streaming protocol (mms://) * Manufacturing Message Specification for real time proces ...

GOES Goes () is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands on Zuid-Beveland, in the province of Zeeland. The city of Goes has approximately 27,000 residents. History Goes was founded in the 10th century on the edge of a creek: de Korte ...

WIND Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

ACE An ace is a playing card, Dice, die or domino with a single Pip (counting), pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit (cards), suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large a ...

* IUGONET *

ERG The erg is a unit of energy equal to 10−7joules (100 nJ). It originated in the Centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS). It has the symbol ''erg''. The erg is not an SI unit. Its name is derived from (), a Greek word meaning 'work' o ...

* OMNI * Geomagnetic/Solar indices Plugins for specialized calculations are: * Generation of GOES overview plots * Generation of THEMIS overview plots * THEMIS particle distribution slices

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

SPEDAS wiki page

SPEDAS blog page

* UC Berkeley, Space Sciences Lab Free software Cross-platform software Space science Space physics NASA