Solar wind data refers to in situ magnetic field, solar wind plasma, and particle data from any spacecraft located upwind of Earth, typically orbiting the L1 Lagrange point, that is available to SWPC in real time. Solar wind data is used by SWPC forecasters to monitor upwind of Earth for disturbances that have the potential to result in geomagnetic storms at Earth. This is operational quality data, be advised that there may be occasional interruptions in the data stream from any spacecraft.
Initially, the legacy Real-Time Solar Wind (RTSW) plot which handles only DSCOVR and ACE data will continue to be the operational plot. It will be available until on or about June 30th, 2026. SOLAR-1 and IMAP I-ALiRT data will be added to the new display once it has completed provisional testing.
For each dataset, users can select which spacecraft they would like to view data from, or can select “Active”. SWPC maintains the ability to instantaneously switch which spacecraft is providing a particular type of RTSW data (IMF, plasma or energetic particles) to be used by forecasters and numerical models, and this is indicated by the “Active” designation.
Timeline Viewer Overview:
Tabs at the top of the plot can be used to switch between “Magnetic Field and Plasma” data and “Suprathermal Ions and Electrons”.
Pan back and forth by clicking and dragging the plot to move forward or backwards in time, or use the left and right arrow keys. Holding shift will increase how far the plots pan with each arrow key press. On mobile devices, it is required to use two fingers to drag the bounds of the plot; this can be circumvented by using the full-screen button in the top-right corner.
Mousing over and/or clicking on the data in the plot will display a tooltip with the values of the most recent data points, along with a label of which spacecraft the data is coming from.
Using the mouse’s scroll wheel will vary the amount of time in which data is displayed on the plot, or use the + and - keys to zoom in and out. On mobile devices, pinch to zoom works.
All of the operational quality solar wind plasma and magnetometer data since January 1998 is available from this plot. As you zoom in to shorter time periods, the resolution of the data displayed will increase automatically. As you zoom out to longer time periods, the resolution will adjust and average accordingly to maintain quality visualization. When this occurs, shading will be added around the plotted points to show the span of maximum and minimum values within that point.
The plots will automatically refresh, grabbing new data as it comes in. By default, it will also automatically pan the x-axis to keep the current time in display. This auto-pan behavior can be toggled by clicking the green (auto-pan on) or gray (auto-pan off) indicator in the navigation bar. When enabling the auto-pan, it will move the bounds to include the current time if it isn’t already visible.
Click the four arrows icon to switch to full screen mode; press again (or press Esc) to restore.
Included in the gears menu tab:
- Toggle Theme: Switch between light or dark mode
- Set Time Range: Select a preset amount of time to display or input a custom date range
- Reset to Defaults: Reset plot back to the most recent data, and reset all options to defaults
- Download PNG: Download the plot as a PNG
- Download Text: Download the currently visible data to an ASCII text file [only for magnetic field and plasma]
- Bt Envelope: Shading of the positive and negative absolute boundaries of Bt [only for magnetic field and plasma]
- Alt Bz Shading: When enabled, highlight Bz < -5 nT instead of the default shading for < 0 nT [only for magnetic field and plasma]
- Disable Shading: Disable all background shading to increase contrast of data against the background [only for magnetic field and plasma]
- Recurrence Data: Turn on or off the overlay of data from 27 days ago for tracking of recurrent features
- Geospace Prediction: Overlays propagated solar wind from Geospace model [only for magnetic field and plasma]
- WSA-Enlil Prediction: Overlays predicted plasma values from WSA-Enlil model [only for magnetic field and plasma]
- Display Legends: Turn on or off the legends
- On the legends, users can also turn on or off individual data series (IMF components, proton energies, electron energies), and shift-clicking will isolate the individual component in the plot
- Clicking and dragging the very top of the legend allows the user to reposition the legend
- Display Tooltips: Turn on or off the tooltips
- Select Spacecraft: Select which spacecraft to view data from
- Labels to the left of the gear icon show which spacecraft is supplying data for each dataset
- Toggle Plots: Select which data types to display in the plot
- IMF: IMF GSM, Phi GSM, Theta GSM
- Plasma: Density, Speed, Temperature
- Kp (not spacecraft-specific)
Caveats
Components of the legacy RTSW plot that are not yet available in the new display but are in the works:
- No quality flags for error or suspect data
Data are available for the following spacecraft:
NOAA's Space weather Observations at L1 to Advance Readiness 1 (SOLAR-1) (starting 2026)
NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe Active Link for Real-Time (IMAP I-ALiRT) (starting 2026)
Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) (starting 7/27/2016)
NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) (starting 2/16/1998)
Datasets include Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF), solar wind thermal plasma, and energetic particles (SOLAR-1, IMAP and ACE only).
SOLAR-1 Overview
IMAP I-ALiRT Overview
SOLAR-1 and IMAP I-ALiRT will replace legacy measurements from ACE and DSCOVR.
