Observatoire de Paris-PSL CNRS vopdc cdpp Sorbonne Université cnes Université de Paris LESIA

Catalogue of Solar Type-III radio bursts identified in the Solar Orbiter/RPW observations (Version 1.0)

Thursday 13 November 2025, by Antonio Vecchio, Corentin Louis, Katerina Pesini, Xavier Bonnin

This dataset provides a comprehensive catalogue of Solar Type III radio bursts observed by the RPW instrument onboard Solar Orbiter. The events were identified through the citizen science campaign “Solar Radio Burst Tracker”, hosted on the Zooniverse platform. A detailed description of the catalogue and methodology is given in Pesini et al. (submitted to A&A).

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.25935/bync-2m17
  • Publisher: PADC/MASER
  • License: CC-BY 4.0
  • Citation: Pesini, A., Vecchio, A., Bonnin, X., Maksimovic, M., Louis, C. K., Musset, S., Kruk, S., Klein Wolt, M., Krupar, V., & Falcke, H. (2025). Catalogue of Solar Type-III radio bursts identified in the Solar Orbiter/RPW observations (Version 1.0) [Data set]. PADC/MASER. https://doi.org/10.25935/bync-2m17

Link to data repository

The data is available in TFCat format and can be loaded and processed using the TFCat python library.

How to display the catalog

  • To display this catalogue, we recommend using the Autoplot software (Faden et al., 2010).
  • Once the software is installed, download the solo_rpw_tfcat.vap and load it by doing “File>Open .vap file...”
  • Use Autoplot’s time controls to display the catalog for:
    - a monthly interval (e.g. April 2020);
    - a single day (e.g. 2022-04-27);
    - or a specific period (e.g. 2022-04-27/2022-04-30).
  • For plotting the dynamic spectrum along with the TFCat, L3 RPW data are necessary.
    Request the L3 HFR and TNR RPW data by sending a request to the RPW PI, since the L3 RPW data are not yet public.
  • When you have the CDF files, in Autoplot it is possible to superimpose the dynamic spectrum along with the catalog by doing:
    “File > Add Plot From > Local File > Choose the CDF file > In the window ‘Select CDF Variables’ choose PSD_FLUX and press Overplot”.
    The same process can be followed for both HFR and TNR datasets.
  • The users’ identifications are hidden behind the spectrum.
    In order to make them visible:
    - Go to the Layout tab,
    - Select the element you want to make visible,
    - Press right click and choose “Move Plot Element Above Others”.

Description

The dataset contains the catalogue of Solar Type III radio bursts identified in the Solar Orbiter / RPW data (HFR and TNR receivers), covering the period from 2020-02-12 to 2025-03-05.

The Type III radio bursts were visually identified by citizen scientists through the Solar Radio Burst Tracker campaign hosted on the Zooniverse platform and subsequently validated by the research team. Volunteers were tasked with contouring as many Type III bursts as possible across 13,647 RPW dynamic spectra recorded between 2020-02-12 and 2025-03-05.

The catalogue and the methodology used to produce it are fully described in Pesini et al. (submitted to A&A).

In this catalogue, there is only one feature type: Type III. Each feature contains two geometries — a polygon and a LineString. Each feature is also accompanied by an uncertainty measure, which quantifies the reliability of the identification. This measure is based on both the agreement among participants’ selected shapes and the frequency drift rate of the peak flux.

The different labels are the following:

  • TypeIII: Possible Type III solar radio bursts identified by the volunteers of the citizen science campaign.

Uncertainty:

  • Uncertainty: 0: Many users agreed on this area, and the frequency drift rate is consistent with the expected Type III burst behavior, 1: Few users selected this area, and the drift rate does not show the expected Type III burst behavior

Geometry

  • Polygon: Polygon Geometry containing the Type III feature
  • LineString: Line string geometry highlighting the maximum intensity in frequency and time position of the feature

The following Figure displays a typical 24-hour dynamic spectra of Solar Orbiter / RPW (TNF, HFR) data with the catalogued emissions.

HRF-TNR Dybamic Spectrum on 07/02/2024 along with the possible Type III burst areas selected by the volunteers of Solar Radio Burst Tracker citizen science campaign
The spectrum was plotted using the AutoPlot tool (Faden et al,2010)

Acknowledgements
Solar Orbiter is a mission of international cooperation between ESA and NASA, operated by ESA. The RPW instrument was designed and funded by CNES, CNRS, the Paris Observatory, the Swedish National Space Agency, ESA-PRODEX, and all participating institutes.

This publication uses data generated via the Zooniverse.org platform, whose development is supported by generous contributions, including a Global Impact Award from Google and a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

We sincerely thank the more than 900 volunteers whose dedicated efforts in identifying Type III bursts made this citizen science campaign possible. We also thank J. Faden and C. Piker for their work on the Autoplot software.

Contact
Any question or request should be addressed to katerina.pesini@obspm.fr

References

  • Faden, J.B., Weigel, R.S., Merka, J. et al. (2010). Autoplot: a browser for scientific data on the web. Earth Sci Inform 3, 41–49, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-010-0049-0
  • Pesini et al. (submitted to A&A

Also in this section