IMA Ion Moments

Measurements before May 2007 starts from Energy = 300 eV.

IMA/MEX operates in two modes -16 / 2 elevation angles (averaged). In 2 elevations mode the quailty flag value is undefined (== 0).

Density quality flag values :

• 0.0: Undefined (2 elevation angles mode)
• 0.0 - 0.6: Poor
• 0.6 - 0.8: Acceptable
• 0.8 - 0.9: Good
• 0.9 - 1.0: Excellent

MEX IMA protons and heavy ions number density could be considered reliable only in the case when corresponding quality flag (moments_quality_factor) is greater than 0.6 and density values themselves are greater than 0.01 cm-3

It is highly recommended to download quality flag along with IMA ion densities.

Due to instrument limitations IMA/MEX measures protons with the energies higher than 1 keV. If possible the proton parameters are reconsructed from the ghost' distribution function.