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Data description update #925

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Data description update #925
s0larish wants to merge 5 commits into
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@s0larish s0larish commented May 4, 2026

PR summary

Update the documentation to highlight which dataproducts to be used primarily for scientific analysis.
Completes #687

@s0larish s0larish self-assigned this May 4, 2026
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codecov Bot commented May 4, 2026

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 57.39%. Comparing base (185054f) to head (cebc34d).
⚠️ Report is 39 commits behind head on main.

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Comment thread docs/data/access.rst
-----------------------------

For most science use cases, the recommended starting point is the Level 3 **CAM**
(Clear a.k.a total brightness low-noise science mosaic) and **PAM** (Polarized low-noise science mosaic) products.
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I might flip this throughout the documentation - so refer to them first as clear / polarized low-noise mosaics, with CAM / PAM in parentheses? Just to avoid getting lost in an alphabet soup of product codes for users.

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But on the other hand, if we focus on "polarized" and "clear", that might distract from the fact that PAM also includes unpolarized data.

Comment thread docs/data/access.rst Outdated
Comment thread docs/data/access.rst Outdated
Comment thread docs/data/access.rst

For most science use cases, the recommended starting point is the Level 3 **CAM**
(Clear a.k.a total brightness low-noise science mosaic) and **PAM** (Polarized low-noise science mosaic) products.
Both are fully background and starfield subtracted and mosaicked across the PUNCH field of view,
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Suggested change
Both are fully background and starfield subtracted and mosaicked across the PUNCH field of view,
Both products are fully background and starfield subtracted and mosaicked across the PUNCH field of view,

Comment thread docs/data/access.rst Outdated
Comment thread docs/data/access.rst
-----------------------------

For most science use cases, the recommended starting point is the Level 3 **CAM**
(Clear a.k.a total brightness low-noise science mosaic) and **PAM** (Polarized low-noise science mosaic) products.
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But on the other hand, if we focus on "polarized" and "clear", that might distract from the fact that PAM also includes unpolarized data.

Comment thread docs/data/access.rst
Comment on lines +9 to +17
For most science use cases, the recommended starting point is the Level 3 **CAM**
(Clear a.k.a total brightness low-noise science mosaic) and **PAM** (Polarized low-noise science mosaic) products.
Both are fully background and starfield subtracted and mosaicked across the PUNCH field of view,
giving you the cleanest possible signal for heliospheric science.
CAM provides total brightness (B) with uncertainty, while PAM additionally resolves
polarized brightness (pB) and its radial component (pB'), making PAM the product of
choice for studies of the CMEs, shocks, solar wind etc. These products
represent one full spacecraft rotation cycle with a significant
improvement in signal-to-noise relative to other products.
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Suggested change
For most science use cases, the recommended starting point is the Level 3 **CAM**
(Clear a.k.a total brightness low-noise science mosaic) and **PAM** (Polarized low-noise science mosaic) products.
Both are fully background and starfield subtracted and mosaicked across the PUNCH field of view,
giving you the cleanest possible signal for heliospheric science.
CAM provides total brightness (B) with uncertainty, while PAM additionally resolves
polarized brightness (pB) and its radial component (pB'), making PAM the product of
choice for studies of the CMEs, shocks, solar wind etc. These products
represent one full spacecraft rotation cycle with a significant
improvement in signal-to-noise relative to other products.
For most science use cases, the recommended starting point is the two Level 3 low-noise science mosaic products,
**PAM** and **CAM**.
Both products are fully background and starfield subtracted and mosaicked across the PUNCH field of view,
giving you the cleanest possible signal for heliospheric science.
Each of these two product types are produced every 32 minutes, allowing multiple images to be averaged together at every point in the mosiac field of view,
offering improved signal-to-noise relative to other products.
PAM files (with the "P" standing for "polarized") have three data layers: total brightness (tB), which is effectively an unpolarized image, followed by
polarized brightness (pB) and its radial component (pB'), making PAM the product of
choice for studies of CMEs, shocks, the solar wind, etc.
CAM files (with the "C" standing for "clear") provide only unpolarized data. The PAMs' unpolarized total brightness is reconstructed from sets of polarized observations, while the CAMs are produced from unpolarized observations which are made at a reduced cadence. So while the total brightness layer of the PAMs is conceptually equivalent to the CAMs, PAMs average together more data, which is expected to provide better signal-to-noise. But for memory- or bandwidth-constrained situations that don't require polarization, CAMs provide largely equivalent data at one-third the file size.

Here are some possible additions to this paragraph. I think two product codes aren't enough to be alphabet soup, and I think their differences and similarities are subtle enough to deserve a few more sentences. I think especially the fact that PAMs include "clear" data, and the differences between that and the CAMs, deserves careful attention and emphasis.

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