The coordinate system shown is Geocentric Solar Magnetospheric. In this coordinate system, the Earth is at the origin. The X-axis is positive towards the Sun. The Z-axis is positive towards the North Pole. As such, these values are provisional, and are subject to corrections.
Linear interpolation is used to interpolate over small intervals of bad or missing data.
From these values, the solar wind dynamic pressure and the magnetosonic Mach number are calculated. An extended period of time with bad or missing solar wind values will cause the movie to not be updated, until new solar wind data are taken. The solar wind magnetosonic Mach number is calculated from the solar wind magnetic field intensity and plasma parameters. The flow angles of the solar wind are not available in the real-time data sets. Though the programs used for this web site are equipped to handle varying flow angles.