Browse, visualize, and analyze in situ plasma measurements from 70+ space missions — without fighting file formats, server APIs, or slow tools.
Space physicists deal with data scattered across multiple archives (CDAWeb, AMDA, CSA, SSCWeb, ...), each with its own API, file formats, and quirks. Downloading, reading, and cross-comparing multi-mission data involves too much plumbing and not enough science.
An ecosystem of open-source tools that handle the plumbing for you:
pip install speasy — Get Any Data in One Line
Access 65,000+ data products from AMDA, CDAWeb, CSA, SSCWeb, and CDPP 3DView through a single Python API. No file downloads, no format headaches.
import speasy as spz
# Grab IMF data — that's it
imf = spz.get_data("amda/imf", "2016-06-02", "2016-06-05")
# Works with NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib out of the box
imf.plot()Transparent caching (local + shared proxy), automatic inventory discovery, tab-completion in notebooks. Also available in Julia.
pip install sciqlop — Interactive GUI for Data Exploration
A desktop application for fluid, lag-free browsing of multivariate time series — even on gigabyte-scale datasets.
- Drag & drop products from any supported archive
- Scroll & zoom seamlessly — data downloads transparently at plot edges
- Virtual products — write a Python function, see it recomputed live as you navigate
- Event catalogs — label intervals graphically, build catalogs as easily as bookmarking web pages
- JupyterLab inside — hybrid interactive + programmatic workflows
Available as AppImage (Linux), DMG (macOS), or pip install sciqlop.
pip install pycdfpp — CDF Files, Fast
A modern C++ CDF library with Python bindings. Thread-safe, up to 4 GB/s read speed, no legacy baggage.
import pycdfpp
cdf = pycdfpp.load("my_data.cdf")
bx = cdf["Bx_GSE"]| Layer | Tool | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| GUI | SciQLop | Interactive desktop app for browsing & labeling data |
| Plotting | SciQLopPlots | High-performance C++ rendering for large datasets |
| Data access | Speasy | Unified API for all major space physics archives |
| CDF I/O | CDFpp + PyISTP | Fast, thread-safe CDF reading/writing + ISTP metadata |
| Catalogs | tscat / cocat | Event catalogs with upcoming CRDT-based collaborative editing |
| Infrastructure | speasy_proxy | Shared caching proxy — less load on public archives |
| Julia | Speasy.jl | Julia bindings for Speasy |
# Just the data access library
pip install speasy
# The full GUI experience
pip install sciqlop
sciqlopOr grab a pre-built binary from the latest release.
- Documentation (Speasy) · Documentation (SciQLop)
- Website
- Supported by CDPP and Plas@Par
