Predicted times of bow Shock crossings at Mars from the NASA/MAVEN mission, using spacecraft ephemerides and magnetic field data, with a predictor-corrector algorithm

CHARACTERISTICS
Planet: Mars
Spacecraft: NASA/Mars
Database from 01/11/2014 to 07/02/2021 (Mars Year 32 to 35 included).
Total number of candidate bow shock crossings: 14929

ORIGINAL DATASETS USED
The original MAVEN/MAG data repository on which these algorithms were applied is available on NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS) at: https://doi.org/10.17189/1414178. For this study, 1-Hz magnetic field data was used.

METHOD
To construct this database from the original datasets above, the predictor and predictor-corrector algorithms used are described in:
Simon Wedlund, C., Volwerk, M., Beth, A., Mazelle, C., Möstl, C., Halekas, J., Gruesbeck, J. and Rojas-Castillo, D., (2021), A Fast Bow Shock Location Predictor-Estimator From 2D and 3D Analytical Models: Application to Mars and the MAVEN mission, submitted to Journal of Geophysical Research, arXiv e-prints, arXiv:2109.04366. 

They consist of two consecutive steps: 

1. Predictor geometric algorithm based on J. Gruesbeck's 3D model (Gruesbeck et al. JGR 2018) for prediction of Mars bow shock position
2. Corrector algorithm based on magnetic field measurements,

VARIABLES DESCRIPTION
This database contains the following ASCII variables:

• Bow shock times in MAVEN's database (1-s resolution): t_sh 
• Crossing sheath \(\longrightarrow\) solar wind, flag = 0.
• solar wind \(\longrightarrow\) sheath, flag = 1.

WARNING
This database is based on an automatic statistical geometrical estimate, further refined by constraints on magnetic field. It is aimed at giving a first approximation of the shock times in the MAVEN data. It is particularly suited to statistical studies and region identification in the MAVEN datasets. As such, this database should be used as a first indicator of the shock location: it CANNOT, and WILL NOT substitute, especially in case studies, for a careful analysis of the full magnetometer and plasma suite bow shock signatures. 

Current formatting optimised for MATLAB.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
C. Simon Wedlund and M. Volwerk thank the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) project P32035-N36. C. Möstl thanks the Austrian Science Fund FWF projects P31659-N27, P31521-N27. A. Beth thanks the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA) and its support with the grant 108/18. This database was notably used to add to the Helio4Cast database which monitors solar wind parameters in the solar system (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6356420). Helio4Cast is available at www.helioforecast.space/icmecat and www.helioforecast.space/sircat.     

LICENSE AND RIGHTS
This database is shared under a Creative Commons CC-BY-4.0 license.

Version 1 (c) Cyril Simon Wedlund @ Space Research Institute of Graz (IWF), 
                                                            Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2021-09-08
Contact email:        cyril.simon.wedlund@gmail.com