Table of Contents

Welcome to the DataPool WebAccess user interface help document. The intent of this document is to give you some quick feedback on how to search for data in the ECS DataPool and to answer questions you may have on how this site works. The DataPool is an on-line cache of frequently requested earth science data from the EOSDIS Core System (ECS) archives. For more information regarding background and purpose of DataPool in general, please see the ‘About DataPool' documentation. The intent of the WebAccess site is to allow users to quickly drill-down through the DataPool database to find data of interest. This site does not require plugins of any kind, but we do use some java and some javascript so it is useful to have those things turned on if your browser supports them. Other than that, there are no major technical requirements to use this site. To begin, select either Data Group, Theme or Data Set from the drop-down menu on the home page and click ‘Start Search’. Note that some sites may configure the home page to have static links to begin the search instead)

Drilling-down (or Searching) [top]

The WebAccess user interface employs a 'drill-down' approach to allow for quick and easy, one-click searching. In general, the values of each drill-down parameter are presented as web links. To make a choice, simply click on the link. With each choice, you are reducing the number of granules that will be returned, effectively burrowing down into the database. Hence the term 'drill-down'. The more complex parameters (those that can have ranges for example) are usually supported by a non-click method of selection as well (date selection form fields and spatial applet are good examples).

Once you make a selection, the next drill-down parameter is displayed on a new page. You can make selections until you run out of parameters or decide to initiate a search for granules. A granule is the most basic unit of ECS data. At its core, a granule is the science data for which you're looking. However, in ECS parlance, the term granule is inclusive of other pieces of data that can be associated with the science data. These include browse data (sub-sampled science data) and metadata. These are all part of a granule (for more on this, see the related section in the glossary). DataPool allows access to the science data (in HDF file format), the browse data (jpg only) and the full granule metadata (xml format).

In general, your options on each drill-down page are to select a value for the current drill-down parameter, skip the current parameter (i.e., don't make a selection for this parameter and move on to one of the remaining parameters), get the granules associated with the currently selected search criteria, or start a new search. Exceptions are the Data Group (or Theme) and Data Set drill-down parameters for which you must make a selection in order to initiate a search.

Page (or screen) layout for the drill-down is generally split up into four parts: a table of the current search criteria, summary statistics, options for what to do next, and a user interface supporting the selection of the next drill-down parameter value. Each section is explained below:

1. The current search criteria table shows the parameters which have been selected thus far and their values. Note: you can click on the linked name of the parameter to return to the drill-down page for that parameter to make a new selection, thereby following a new drill-down path to different data.
2. Summary statistics describe the set of granules that would result if you issued the current search without selecting any additional search criteria. The summary includes a count of the granules and the total volume of selected granules measured in megabytes.
3. The options section describes your options for continuing with the drill-down from the current point. Up to four continuation options will be listed depending on their relevance to the current point in the drill-down. The four options are: select a value or values for the current drill-down parameter and continue the drill-down with the next parameter, skip selection of a value for the current drill-down parameter (thus effectively selecting no values for that parameter) and continue the drill-down with the next parameter (which is selectable), end the drill-down at the current point and get the granules that match the current selection of drill-down parameters and values, or start a new search (this will remove all references to your current search).
4. The user interface for selecting values for the drill-down parameters varies by whether the parameter is 'simple' or 'complex'. Simple parameters (i.e., those with a finite list of valid values) are presented in a table where each row represents a parameter value and has three columns: a link to a value of the parameter, a description of that parameter value and a count of the granules that would match both that parameter value and the existing search criteria. User interfaces for complex parameters are described individually in the following section. There are five complex parameters in this release of DataPool: date, time, spatial area-of-interest, cloud cover and science quality.

The following parameters are available for searching:

• Cloud Cover
• Data Group or Theme
• Data Set
• Date
• Day/Night Flag
• Science Quality Flag (for the selected measured parameter)
• Spatial Coverage (also known as area-of-interest or geographic region)
• Time of Day

The order of drill-down parameters above is presented alphabetically and does not mean to convey a default ordering of drill-down parameters. The as-delivered, default order of presentation is either Data Group, Theme or Data Set (each of these is initially displayed on the home page) followed by Date, Time, Spatial, Cloud Cover, Day/Night Flag and Science Quality Flag. This default order (including the removal of parameters) may be changed by the hosting site as a matter of operational configuration. You may also change this order via the ‘Set Search Order’ page. For more information on selecting your own search order, please see the section on ‘Search Order Selection’. Also note that it is very easy to skip parameters in which you are not interested. Please see the section on ‘Skipping Selections’ for more information on this topic. Below are basic descriptions of each parameter:

• Data Group [top] - is a grouping of ECS data collections by instrument and mission, except in the case of MODIS data, where the grouping is by instrument, mission, and major discipline. For example, MOAA is MODIS Atmosphere data from the Aqua mission, ASTT is ASTER data from the Terra mission.

  Data Group is a 'simple' parameter in that all of its value choices are resolved into single-click links.

  Either this parameter or Theme , or Data Set is mandatory (you must make a selection for one of these parameters in order to initiate a search for granules).

• Theme [top] - is a grouping of data granules by a common interest or topic (for example, 'Ring of Fire Volcanoes' or 'Fires - Western U.S.'). A theme can include any number of granules irrespective of their data collections. A granule can belong to any number of themes. Unlike data groups, all granules of a data collection need not belong to a particular theme. Themes are defined at the hosting site. To propose a new theme, contact User Services at the hosting site.

  Theme is a simple parameter in that all of its value choices are resolved into single-click links.

  Either this parameter or Data Group or Data Set is mandatory (you must make a selection for one of these parameters in order to initiate a search for granules).

• Data Set [top] - stands for Earth Science Data Set (ESDT). It is the primary reference name used in identifying the contents of an ECS data collection. For example, 'ASTER Level 1B' is a Data Set. It refers to a data collection (or 'data set') from the ASTER instrument which is raw instrument data that has had system radiometric and geometric corrections applied to it and has been subsequently reprojected to a given map projection. All data items (or granules) that are of this type have the above described characteristics in common.

  Data Set is a 'simple' parameter since all of its value choices are simple links (see above).

  This parameter is mandatory if you have selected Data Group as your first parameter. It is optional when Theme is the first parameter selected. Please note however, that it is a good idea, in general, to select a Data Set as this improves the search performance.

  Please Note: It is possible that access to a particular Data Set may be temporarily prohibited due to maintenance on that Data Set. Data sets undergoing maintenance will be marked accordingly on the Data Set page. Please see the Data Set Maintenance section for more details on Data Set availability.

• Date [top] - this is the acquisition date range (beginning of acquisition to the end of acquisition) of the granule. When you select a date from the calendar (or a date range from the form) we use that date range to search against the acquisition date ranges for all of the granules that qualify given your other currently selected criteria (Data Group, Theme, etc.). Note: even clicking a single day link on the calendar produces a date range: beginning of the day to the end of the day.

  This parameter has month, day and week ranges resolved into single-click links (drill-down selections) or alternatively allows you to enter the beginning date and ending date of the date range via a forms option menu. To select a date from the calendar display, simply click the link for that date. The link will be shown as active if there are granules present for that date. If you prefer to enter a date range, then use the form option menus below the calendar. Note: It is possible to get no hits when selecting a date range as we don't validate the ranges you select prior to getting counts of the granules from the database with your selections. Therefore, the next page may show a search criteria summary that has no hits. If this is the case, use the 'back' button on your browser or click the 'Date' link in the search criteria summary and go back and make another date choice.

  Date is NOT mandatory. You may select it, skip it, get the granules given the existing criteria or start a new search.

• Time of Day [top] - is what you might think: clock time.

  We divide up the 24 hour clock into one-hour segments, selectable on the hour or half-hour (you choose). Like the preceding calendar page, we show active links in the table where granules are present for those times. Otherwise, we just show the times themselves. You may also select a time range by using the form option menus below the table (unless you've got a big display, you'll need to scroll to see them).

  Time of Day is NOT a mandatory parameter. You may select it, skip it, get the granules given the existing criteria or start a new search.

• Spatial (area-of-interest or geographic region) [top] - this parameter allows you to select a spatial coverage over which to search for granules. Note that we check to see whether any granules intersect the region you select (e.g., we don't limit the search to granules contained within the region). The geographic region is represented by latitude/longitude points. The points are specified by decimal degrees (e.g., -128.94). There are two types of regions which can be specified: a lat/long box (llbox), or a polygon. Both types can be created using the applet on the spatial drill-down page. As an alternative, you may enter coordinates for an llbox directly using the form fields below the applet (if you do not have a java-enabled browser and want to enter a geographic region-of-interest, this is your only alternative to the applet). Region types and selection modes are discussed below:

• LLBox - LLBox stands for Latitude/Longitude box which is defined by a North and South latitude (meridians) and an East and West longitude (great circle arcs). An llbox may be entered via the applet by selecting the 'Rectangle' mode on the applet itself and then drawing a bounding box using the mouse to cover the area in which you are interested. To draw the bounding box, click down on the map and without letting go of the mouse button, drag the mouse to create the bounding box you want. When you've drawn the area you want, release the mouse button. Repeat this as many times as you like until you get the bounding box you want. When you've got the rectangle you want, click the 'Add Selection to Search' button at the bottom of the applet.

  An llbox may also be entered using the forms fields below the applet. It is the only type of geographic region that may be entered using the form fields. Again, when you're done entering the llbox coordinates, you must click the 'Add Selection to Search' button. This button is under the form (not on the applet).

• Polygon - This type of region is composed of pairs of latitude/longitude coordinates. Each of the arcs between a pair of points is defined as a great circle arc. This region can be any irregular polygon you care to create with the only constraint being that it cannot have crossed lines. To create a polygon, select the 'Polygon' mode in the applet and click on the map to enter points. Once you've got the polygon you want, click the 'Add Selection to Search' button.

• Spatial coverage is NOT a mandatory parameter. You may select it, skip it, get the granules given the existing criteria or start a new search.

• Cloud Cover [top] - is a percentage value indicating how much of the area of a granule (the ECS data unit) has been obscured by clouds. It is worth noting that there are many different measures of cloud cover within the ECS data holdings and that the cloud cover parameter that is represented in the DataPool is specific to Data Set. The source percentage for the cloud cover values (i.e., which parameter is used to represent the cloud cover given the Data Set) and a description of that parameter are be displayed on the Cloud Cover drill-down page (and on the results set page). The mapping of cloud cover source parameters to DataPool Data Sets is maintained by the hosting site (in the case of ECS, the Distributed Active Archive Centers or DAACs).

  Cloud cover is considered a ‘complex’ parameter since it presents the user with a list of discrete percentages in addition to allowing a range query using maximum and minimum cloud cover values. To select a maximum cloud cover percentage, click on the link for that percentage. To specify an acceptable range of cloud cover percentages for your results set, enter the minimum and maximum percentage values on the ‘Select a Range’ form.

  Cloud cover is not a mandatory parameter. You may select it, skip it, get the granules given the existing criteria or start a new search.

  Note that cloud cover will not be presented as an available parameter during drill-down if the currently selected Data Set does not have a cloud cover source parameter configured.

• Day/Night Flag [top] - is an indicator of whether the granule was collected during the day, the night (between sunset and sunrise), or both. It can also have a value of 'N/A' which means 'Not Applicable'.

  This is a 'simple' parameter so its choices are organized into the same kind of table that was presented for Data Group and Data Set: three columns with the first being a hyperlinked value selection, the second being a description of the value you are choosing and the third being a count of the granules that have the value and match your existing search criteria.

  Day/Night Flag is NOT a mandatory parameter. You may select it, skip it, get the granules given the existing criteria or start a new search.

• Science Quality Flag (ScienceQA) [top] - is not really a simple parameter even though its values get organized into a table like the other simple parameters. Science Quality Flag (often referred to as 'ScienceQA') refers to the science quality (bestowed upon the granule by the instrument team) of a particular measured parameter (such as the radiance at a particular wavelength). Science Quality Flag values are typically one of the following:
  • Passed - The granule (for the parameter) has passed a specified science test.
  • Failed - The granule (for the parameter) has failed a specified science test.
  • Being Investigated - The granule (for the parameter) is being investigated by an expert.
  • Validated - The granule (for the parameter) has been validated by an expert.
  • Not Investigated - The granule (for the parameter) has not been investigated by an expert.

  The Science QA page will only be made available as a drill-down option once a data set has been selected. This is necessary as science quality is related to particular measured parameters which are in turn related to particular data sets. The Science QA page is organized such that you must first choose a measured parameter from a drop-down menu. The list of the parameters from which you may choose is appropriate for the data set you have already selected. When the page is initially displayed, a default measured parameter is presented and its science quality flag values and related granule counts are displayed. You may use the default measured parameter or you may select whatever parameter you like from the available list. When you select a measured parameter from the option menu(and click ‘Go’ if the browser has javascript disabled), you'll get a new set of links for the ScienceQA values (and most likely, new counts as measured parameter ScienceQA values tend to vary between granules).

  Science Quality Flag is not a mandatory parameter. You may select it, skip it, get the granules given the existing criteria or start a new search.

  For some Data Sets, no measured parameters are applicable. In this case, the Science QA page will display the message "No Measured Parameter/Science QA Available" and your options will be to get granules or start a new search. The option to select a measured parameter will not appear on the page.

Please note that the drill-down parameter that is configured to be last will not offer a skip option (since it is the last parameter listed in the drill-down sequence). For more on this, see the ‘Skip Options’ section below.

Search Order Selection [top]

The nature of the drill-down user interface requires that parameters be presented one at a time. However, the order of presentation is configurable. To configure the order of presentation, click on the ‘set the order’ link displayed on the Webaccess home page. Clicking this link will display the ‘Set Search Order’ page. This page contains a set of option menus that allow you to define the order of presentation with the following restrictions:

1. You must choose Data Group, Theme or Data Set to be the first parameter in your customized sequence. No other parameters are allowed to be the initial selection.
2. If you choose 'Data Group' as the first parameter, Data Set must be the second.
3. Data Set must be present in the drill-down sequence in order for 'Science Quality Flag' to be included.

For example, you may configure the following order: Data Group -> Data Set -> Spatial -> Cloud Cover (and 'None' for parameters 5 - 8). In this instance, Cloud Cover would be the last selectable parameter and would be followed by the results page once a selection had been made. Note that Date, Time and Science Quality Flag have all been left out (Theme was excluded as it is only valid as a starting parameter). Once you have created the search order you want, select 'Set'. 'Reset' will re-instate the default order (i.e., Data Group, Data Set, Date, Time of Day, Spatial, Cloud Cover, Day/Night Flag, Science QA). Navigate back to the home page (‘Go Back to Home Page’) to start the search.

Please note that selecting a parameter for display in the drill-down sequence will not always guarantee its appearance as the display of parameters is context-sensitive depending on data set. For example, if a data set has a global spatial distribution (i.e., its granules have spatial extents that are global in nature), the spatial page will not be displayed for that data set (because a spatial search would not reduce the number of granules returned). Cloud Cover and Day/Night Flag are other examples of parameters that are data set dependent (i.e., if site operations has configured the data sets to be defined as requiring Day/Night Flag or having valid cloud cover, these pages will be available in a drill-down sequence assuming that you have either kept the default sequence in place or configured these parameters for display).

Skip Options (also known as 'Flexible Drill-down') [top]

Each drill-down page (with the exception of Data Group, Theme and Data Set and the page for the 'last' drill-down parameter) supports the option to skip to another available page without selecting a value from the current page. A 'next' page from the default drill-down order will be displayed automatically on the skip option menu. However, if you wish to jump to a different page, simply make a selection from the skip option menu and click 'Go'. Note that only parameters which have not yet been selected are offered as skip choices. Additionally, note that if you choose a skip option other than the default 'next' option, the skip option menus on subsequent drill-down pages will only display parameter options 'below' the choosen skip option in the currently set drill-down order (i.e., you cannot use the skip option to change the drill-down order).

Using the Spatial Applet [top]

This is a quick reference for the functions of the spatial coverage applet. There are seven functional groups of controls and/or displays within the applet: Coordinates, Layers, Density Map, Grid Size, Zoom, and Map Interaction and the selection buttons.. Each functional group is discussed in the sections below:

• Coordinates - displays lat/lon coordinates of the cursor location as the cursor is moved over the map. The readout is in decimal degrees of latitude and longitude.
• Layers - allows you to display any of seven different feature layers on the map. With the exception of the WRS layers, each of these is labeled in a self-explanatory manner. The WRS (Worldwide Reference System) layers represent a commonly used data grid (typically used for Landsat data). To display a layer, click the checkbutton next to the layer name. To hide a layer, un-check the checkbutton next to the layer name. Note that only the 'Political' and 'Hydrology' layers are displayed at all zoom levels when turned on. The other layers are displayed at the appropriate level as you zoom in.
• Density Map - displays the location and relative density (number of granules per tile) of data on the map. The density map is composed of individual tiles, each of which is color-coded to indicate the relative number of granules it intersects. There are a total of four possible density ranges represented by four different colors, which are, from lowest to highest (maximum) density: green, yellow, cyan and magenta. Note that the density map displays density values for the currently selected data set only. It does not factor in the selection of any other parameters (i.e., Date or Time, etc.). The density map has the following controls:
  • Show - allows the density map to be shown or hidden. Check the checkbutton to show the density map (the default), uncheck the checkbutton to hide the density map.
  • In Color - allows the map to be shown in color or shown in greyscale. Check the checkbutton to show the map in color (the default); uncheck the checkbutton to show the map in greyscale.
  • Fill Style - allows you to select a fill style for rendering the density map tiles. Options are: auto (chooses a file value based on the zoom level), none, solid, line, radial, hatch 1 and hatch 2.
  • Key - The density map also has a key that displays the color-codes and the range that each color represents for the currently displayed map (e.g., Green: Low, Yellow: Medium, etc.)
• Grid Size - allows you to select an arbitrary grid size from .1 degrees square to 45 degrees square. Select the desired grid size from the option menu to display that grid size on the map.
• Zoom - allows you to zoom the map in or out. Click on a radio button between 'Globe' and '30 km' to zoom accordingly. Each radio button corresponds to a zoom factor. Zoom factors run from about 1x (the globe) to roughly 400x (shows a bounding area of approximately 30 kilometers on a side).
• Map Interaction - allows you to choose a mode of interaction for the map. There are several modes, two for navigation: 'Pan' (the default) and 'Pan & Zoom', and two for selection: 'Rectangle' and 'Polygon'.
  • Pan - allows you to click a point anywhere on the map to make the globe 'pan' (or center itself at) that point.
  • Pan & Zoom (In or Out) - allows you to click a point anywhere on the map and zoom in (or out) as the map pans. Zooming in is the default behavior. To zoom out, hold the 'Alt' key down when you click on the map.
  • Rectangle - allows you to select a bounding rectangle (lat/lon box, actually) as your spatial coverage region. When using the 'Rectangle' mode, mouse-down to select the first corner point of your rectangle, then drag the mouse over the map to where you want the final corner point (the other two corner points are inserted for you). You can do this as many times as you like until you get the area you want. When you're ready, click the 'Add Selection to Search' button. This will enter your selection and forward you to the next page.
  • Polygon - allows you to select a polygon as your spatial coverage region. When using 'Polygon' mode, simply click in the desired location to add points to your polygon. Note that there is no editing of polygons, so it's probably best to keep them simple. If you ever want to start over, click the 'Clear Selection' button (at the bottom of the applet). When you've got the polygon you want, click the 'Add Selection to Search' button.
• Selection Buttons - allow you to control selection of your criteria. Clicking the 'Add Selection to Search' button adds the selected spatial criteria to your search and forwards you on to the next page. Clicking on the 'Clear Select (from map only)' button will delete your current selection from the applet. Note that these buttons are greyed-out (i.e., unavailable for use) until you have drawn a spatial coverage on the map.

Please note that the applet make take several seconds to start up even if the java virtual machine (JVM) has been previously run in your browser. The applet should run correctly on any browser that has a Java 1.1.8 or better JVM installed.

Viewing Results [top]

A summary of your results is displayed above the results table. The summary captures notable data set level information such as average granule size, source parameter for cloud cover, product quality summary link or whether the data for a data set is typically compressed. The summary contents are as follows:

• Granule Count - the count of granules by data set.
• Granule Average Size - the average size of granules by data set. Also contains an indication that granules with compressed science files may exist in a particular data set with the display of ‘(compressed)’ following the average granule size for a data set. Please see the Compressed Data section for more details on granules with compressed science files.
• Data Set Status - indicates whether browsing and ordering access is currently unavailable for the granules of a data set. This information is only displayed if the data set or a data set critical resource (e.g, file system) is not available. Please see the section on Data Set Maintenance for more details on data set availability.
• Cloud Cover Source Parameters - a link to the Cloud Cover Source Parameter name and description for a particular Data Set, if applicable. This information is only displayed when the results set contains a data set which has a cloud cover source parameter and corresponding cloud cover values for its granules.
• Cloud Cover Source Parameter Description - the site (DAAC) entered description for the cloud cover source parameter. This information is only displayed when the results set contains a data set which has a cloud cover source parameter and corresponding cloud cover values for its granules.
• Product Quality Summary link - a link to the product quality summary statement for this data set issued by the site hosting the data set. This information will only be displayed when a product quality link is available. It is a good idea to access the product quality summary when it is available as the information contained within the summary may significantly affect your research.
• Total size of the results set - The summation of all the granule sizes in the results set.
• HEG Granule Count Warning - a warning regarding the total number of granules in a shopping cart which can have associated conversion requests.
• HEG Processing Announcements - indicate when HEG processing might be unavailable and for what periods of time, etc.

The granules that match your search criteria are displayed in the results granule table. The results table is organized such that there is one granule displayed per row. The column organization of the results table is as follows:

• Granule - The granule column contains the name of the granule and several icons which indicate actions that can be taken on the granule. The name is actually a part of the granule UR and it is displayed as a link if there is a science file present for this granule (in some cases, the science data itself is not available from the DataPool, so you will see only the unlinked name of the granule). Depending on the type of data that is present, you will see several icons for each granule:
  • Download icons:
    • - 'no compression' icon - download data directly with no compression. This icon is linked to the granule science file (contains the actual science data for the granule). This will download the file directly with no compression.
      Note: if you are downloading all the files of a multi-file granule, this icon will be displayed as a tar file icon ().
    • - zip icon - download data using zip compression. All compression is done on-the-fly using wu-ftp. Note that if you're using a Solaris 8 platform, you must use 'unzip' to open the zip files - 'gunzip' will not work. This download option will not be displayed if the granule is already compressed.
    • - gzip icon - download data using gzip compression. This download option will not be displayed if the granule is already compressed.
    • - UNIX compression icon - download data using UNIX compression. This download option will not be displayed if the granule is already compressed.
  • - xml file icon - a link to the full metadata of the granule in xml format.
  • - browse icon - a link to the granule browse image (a jpg file). This will be shown if the corresponding browse image(s) is(are) available in DataPool.
  • - xml/browse combined icon - a link to the viewer which shows both the granule metadata and it's browse imagery.
  • - converter icon - a link to an information dialog regarding conversion options available for the granule. This is a change from previous functionality which used to allow conversion of a single granule. Accessing conversion functions via this link is no longer possible. If the data is considered convertable by the 'HDF-EOS to GeoTIFF' Converter (HEG), this icon will be present. The list of convertible files is shown below. Please note that the DAAC may configure a collection to be not convertible even though it appears in the list of convertible files.
  • - 'add to cart' icon - this icon will always be present unless there is no science file in the DataPool (in which case there is no data to add to the cart). Moving granules into the shopping cart may result in media warnings if the granule size, the number of granules, or the total data size of the granules intended for the shopping cart violates the maximum physical capacity, granule count, or data size of any media type, respectively. Please see the Media section for more details on distribution media.
• Cloud % - a percentage value indicating how much of the area of a granule (the ECS data unit) has been obscured by clouds. The source parameter for this cloud cover is displayed in the summary.
• Size - this is the size of the granule’s science file in megabytes (MB).
• Date - shown in two separate columns representing beginning and ending date. This represents the date range on which the granule was collected. The actual ECS parameters are RangeBeginningDate and RangeEndingDate.
• Time - shown in two separate columns representing beginning and ending time. This represents the time range over which the granule was collected. The actual ECS parameters are RangeBeginningTime and RangeEndingTime
• Day/Night - Indicates whether the granule was collected between sunrise and sunset (D) or sunset and sunrise (N) or both (B). It can also have a value of N/A which means 'Not Applicable' or NULL.
• Science QA - this grouping of columns displays the 'Science QA' value for each measured parameter that is available for the granule. The 'ScienceQA' group of columns can be selected via the 'Cols:' (Columns) option menu on the results table header or footer. NULL and N/A values are likely for values in this part of the results table as 'Science QA' population and measured parameter usage vary widely between different data sets.
• %Cloud Coverage - this grouping of columns displays the % cloud cover for each measured parameter available for this granule. That is the primary difference between this information and ‘Cloud %’ listed above. ‘Cloud %’ represents the cloud cover values of a single source parameter whereas ‘% Cloud Coverage’ lists the cloud cover values for all measured parameters associated with the granule. Normally, ‘% Cloud Coverage’ and ‘Cloud %’ will not be displayed in the same results set. The '%Cloud Covererage' group of columns can be selected via the ‘Cols:’ (Columns) option menu on the results table header or footer. NULL and N/A values are likely for values in this part of the results table as '%Cloud Cover' population and measured parameter usage vary widely between different data sets.

The results table header and footer are primarily concerned with results table navigation and contain the following:

• Shopping cart link (  ) - allows you to navigate to the shopping cart (without adding anything)
• Display columns option menu (‘Cols:’) - allows you to select which column groups to display
• # of rows select list (‘#Rows:’) - this allows you to change how many rows the table displays.
• Page select list (‘Showing n - m of x rows’) - allows you to select any of the pages currently contained within the granule list
• Navigation icons: first (), previous (), next () and last() - allows incremental stepping through the results table pages. Clicking the 'Next' or 'Previous' links will advance or rewind one page of granules. Clicking the 'First' or 'Last' links will go to the first or last page of granules respectively.

Downloading Science Files [top]

The first four icons(, , and  ) in the 'Granule' column of the results table are the hdf or science file icons. The last three of these four icons are for downloading the science files in one of the available compression formats. To ftp the granule's science files to your machine, simply click on any of these icons. Again, note that these icons, like the others, are optional: they will only be displayed if the science files are present for the corresponding granule in your results set.

If there is only a single science file for your granule, clicking on the granule link or any of the four downloading icons should result in a 'Save As...' dialog being popped up. If the granule has multiple science files associated with it, when you click on any of the downloading (ftp) links or icons, a dialog containing links for the multiple science files will pop up. You may either click on the individual links in the dialog to get the science files separately or click on the single tar file link to get them all in a single tar file. For granules having science files stored in a compressed format, the option for additional compression upon download will not be offered. Hence, for granules having single science file, only one downloading icon is displayed in the result table for granules with compressed science files. Also, in the pop up for multiple science files, only one icon is displayed to download the science files separately for granules with compressed science files. Please see the Compressed Data section for more details on granules with compressed science files.

Note that each of the file links displayed for downloading files is an ftp link. It is possible that the browser will not understand the file type referenced in this link, and will therefore, try to render it as text. In order to stop this from occurring, you have the choices listed below:

• Right-click (or option|click if on a Mac) on the link. This will display the option menu. Select the 'Save Link As...' option from this menu. This should popup a 'Save As...' dialog box allowing to you to save the science file to your disk.
• If you're using Netscape on a PC, set a helper type in your browser preferences. This will allow you to click normally on these links and get the 'Save As...' dialog.
  1. From the 'Edit' menu, select 'Preferences'. This will display the 'Netscape: Preferences' dialog.
  2. From the nested-list on the left of the dialog, select 'Navigator' and then 'Applications'. On the right-hand side of the dialog, a list of application helpers should be displayed along with some controls on the right ('New Type...', 'Edit', 'Remove').
  3. Select 'New Type...'. This will produce a 'Netscape: Application' dialog with a listing of field names ('Description','MIMEType',etc.). Simply fill in the fields on this dialog as listed below:
     • Description of Type: DataPool Files
     • File Extension: hdf,hdfeos,eds,xml,dpl,r10
     • MIME Type: application/ftp
     • Application to Use: type 'Unknown:PromptUser'
• If you're using Internet Explorer, you shouldn't have this problem if you use Version 5.5 or greater.

Viewing Granule Metadata [top]

The next icon (  ) shown in the 'Granule' column of the results table is the icon for displaying metadata. To view the full metadata for a granule simply click on this icon. This will pop up a new browser window showing the full metadata hierarchy for the granule. To see the complete metadata hierarchy, scroll down or expand the popup window (or both). Navigation links in the popup window let you navigate through the metadata hierarchies for all the granules in the results set if you like (just click on the 'Next' or 'Previous' links depending on whether you'd like to see the next granule or the previous one; the same applies to 'First' and 'Last' links for the first or last granules). To save the xml file to your local disk, click on the 'Save Metadata File' icon. A 'Save As...' dialog should popup and prompt you for a file name and location. Note: the same problem described for downloading science files described above can occur when trying to save the xml file. Please see the section above for problem description and solutions.

You may also access the metadata by clicking the combined browse/metadata icon (). The combined viewer shows both metadata and browse information on the same page.

Viewing Browse Imagery [top]

Note: ECS Browse files which do not contain jpg images will not be available in DataPool. If a granule has an associated jpg browse available in DataPool, a browse icon (  ) will be displayed in the 'Granule' cell in the results table. Simply click on this icon to pop up the browse viewer. Note that for granules with multiple browse images, the images are currently shown in a scrollable area with the browse viewer (you've got to scroll down to see all of the browse images in this case). If you want to save any of the images, just right-click on the image. A popup menu will appear and one of the options will be 'Save As...' or 'Save Image As...', etc. When you select this option, you'll get a popup dialog asking you where you'd like to save the file and under what name.

You may also access browse imagery by clicking the combined browse/metadata icon (). The combined viewer shows both browse and metadata information on the same page.

Converting Data (Re-Formatting, Re-Projection and Subsetting) [top]

DataPool WebAccess provides the option to reformat, reproject or subset granules in the results set (or shopping cart) using an HDF-EOS to GeoTIFF (HEG) conversion tool. This tool, the HDF-EOS-to-GeoTIFF (HEG) Converter converts data adhering to the HDF-EOS standard. In order to make conversion requests, convertible granules must first be added to the shopping cart. Granules that are convertible will have an accompanying converter icon () displayed in the 'Granules' column of the result table. Conversion parameters are as follows:

• File format may be converted to GeoTIFF
• Projection may be converted to any one of the following:
• • Geographic
  • Polar Stereographic
  • Lambert's Azimuthal Equal Area
  • Lambert's Conformal Conic
  • Sinusoidal
  • State Plane Coordinate System
  • Transverse Mercator
  • Universal Transverse Mercator
  • Albers

  Note that projections which are not currently supported for a given data type will not be shown as choices.

• Files may be subset spatially or by band

Conversion of granules is achieved by adding granules to the shopping cart (  ). Conversion parameters may be selected from the shopping cart page. Note that because conversion requests typically take a significant amount of time (minutes to hours), all conversion requests in DataPool are worked off-line, or as orders (though there is no charge for converted data). As such, you will receive e-mail from us when the conversions are complete.

Conversion parameters are as follows:

• Formats [top]

• HDF-EOS - leaves the file in HDF-EOS format
• GeoTIFF - writes file in GeoTIFF format.

In the shopping cart page, you can apply the format selection to all the applicable granules in your cart by clicking the icon () next to the format drop-down menu list.

• Projections [top] - below are the listing of the projection options for all convertible grid type granules (all projections are standard as referenced by the General Cartographic Transformation Package from USGS):
  • No Change - uses the granule's ‘native’ (i.e., the one it came with) projection. Note that this option has the following restrictions (which are subject to change as the software is improved):
    • Valid for all gridded data (granule HDF object types may be 'Grid' or 'Swath')
    • Valid forASTER swath data regardless of output format (HDF-EOS or GeoTIFF), but not regardless of other conversion operations. If an ASTER swath granule is subset (spatially or by band) and the output format is GeoTIFF, the 'No Change' option for projections is honored (i.e, the granule's ‘native’ projection will be used to write the output file or files). If the output format is HDF-EOS, the 'No Change' option is not honored and the data will be reprojected to 'Geographic'. This is due to the vagaries of HEG processing and is subject to change.
    • Not valid for swath data (except ASTER) unless the selected format is HDF-EOS and there is no other converion operation (e.g, spatial subsetting).
    • Not valid for swath data that is subset, spatially or by band. Selecting 'No Change' and any subsetting will result in a reprojection to 'Geographic'.
  • Geographic - reprojects granule to 'geographic'
  • Lambert's Azimuthal Equal Area - reprojects granule to 'Lambert's Azimuthal Equal Area'.
  • Lambert's Conformal Conic - reprojects granule to 'Lambert's Conformal Conic'
  • Polar Stereographic - reprojects granule to 'polar stereographic'. Center point is the center of the granule.
  • Sinusoidal - reprojects granule to 'Sinusoidal'
  • State Plane Coordinate System - reprojects granule to 'State Plane Coordinate System'
  • Transverse Mercator - reprojects granule to 'Transverse Mercator'.
  • Universal Transverse Mercator - reprojects granule to 'Universal Transverse Mercator'.
  • Albers - reprojects granule to 'Albers'

  Of the possible format and projection combinations, some may not be available depending on the type of data and other selected conversion options. A warning will be displayed if there are alternative conversion options available or an error will be displayed if the order cannot be submitted with the selected conversion options.

• Projection Input Parameters [top] - If you have selected a projection other than 'No Change' and 'Geographic', you have the option to customize the projection parameters in the Projection input parameters form. This form appears on both the single conversion page and as a popped up window if you click the Projection Input Parameters icon () next to a projection dropdown list in the shopping cart. Note that the labels used for these projections attempt to describe the projection parameters using normal English, but their General Cartographic Transformation Package (GCTP) equivalencies are listed below as well. For each projection (except for "No Change" and "Geographic"), the available parameters are the following:
  • Lambert's Azimuthal Equal Area :
    • Center Longitude: Longitude of center of projection (GCTP label: CentLon)
    • Center Latitude: Latitude of center of projection (GCTP label: CentLat).
    • False Easting: False easting in meters (GCTP label: FE).
    • False Northing: False northing in meters (GCTP label: FN).
  • Lambert's Conformal Conic :
    • Latitude of 1st Parallel: 1st latitude of the standard parallel (GCTP label: STDPR1)
    • Latitude of 2nd Parallel: 2nd latitude of the standard parallel (GCTP label: STDPR2)
    • Center Longitude: Longitude of the central meridian (same as projection origin; GCTP label: CenterMer)
    • Center Latitude: Latitude of the projection origin (GCTP label: OriginLat).
    • False Easting: False easting in meters (GCTP label: FE).
    • False Northing: False northing in meters (GCTP label: FN).
  • Polar Stereographic :
    • Center Longitude: Longitude down below pole of map (GCTP label: LongPol).
    • Center Latitude: Latitude of true scale (GCTP label: TrueScale).
    • False Easting: False easting in meters (GCTP label: FE).
    • False Northing: False northing in meters (GCTP label: FN).
  • Sinusoidal :
    • Center Longitude: Longitude of the central meridian (GCTP label: CenterMer)
    • False Easting: False easting in meters (GCTP label: FE).
    • False Northing: False northing in meters (GCTP label: FN).
  • State Plane Coordinate System :
    • Zone (selected from an option menu): All zones are within the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico.
  • Transverse Mercator :
    • Scale Factor ( at Center Longitude ): Scale factor at central meridian (GCTP label: Factor). Range is 0 > x <= 1.
    • Center Longitude: Longitude of the central meridian (GCTP label: CenterMer).
    • Center Latitude: Latitude of the projection origin (GCTP label: OriginLat)
    • False Easting: False easting in meters (GCTP label: FE).
    • False Northing: False northing in meters (GCTP label: FN).
  • Universal Transverse Mercator :
    • Longitude: Longitude of any point in the UTM zone.
    • Latitude: Latitude of any point in the UTM zone
  • Albers :
    • Latitude of 1st Parallel: Latitude of the first standard parallel (GCTP label: STDPR1)
    • Latitude of 2nd Parallel: Latitude of the second standard parallel (GCTP label: STDPR2)
    • Center Longitude: Longitude of the central meridian (same as projection origin; GCTP label: CenterMer)
    • Center Latitude: Latitude of the projection origin (GCTP label: OriginLat).
    • False Easting: False easting in meters (GCTP label: FE).
    • False Northing: False northing in meters (GCTP label: FN).

  These options are the same for single and multiple granule conversion. Note that for multiple granule conversion, you have the options to apply the projection and projection parameters for a granule to all applicable granules in the shopping cart. You may also make the selected projection and projection parameters the default for incoming granules to the shopping cart. These options, 'apply all' and 'make default' generally apply to all converion features currently available (re-formatting, re-projecting and subsetting). If a projection is not valid for every granule in the shopping cart, the "apply-to-all" operation will fail and you will be prompted for another try. If the default projection is not supported for an incoming granule, the "No Change" projection will be displayed instead. "Apply-to-all" and "make default" will not affect non-convertible granules.

  Please note that if no input projection parameters are provided, the conversion tool will choose the defaults for you.

• Spatial Subsetting [top] - only simple lat/long boxes are allowed. To specify the subset area, decimal degree values are input to a form which has north and south latitude and east and west longitude. This form appears on both the single conversion page, accessed via the converter icon () on the results page, and its own spatial subsetting page when you click the Spatial Subsetting icon ( ) in the shopping cart.

  When you select the checkbox for ‘Apply these settings to all applicable granules in the shopping cart', make sure that the subsetting area intersects all of the granules within the shopping cart. Granules which do not intersect the subsetting area will fail during the conversion process and you will not receive any of the data from the failed granule (the rest of the order will proceed assuming there are other successful granules in the order).

  Note that spatial subsetting may be turned off for selected data sets by the DAAC. If you feel spatial subsetting should be available on a particular data set that doesn't have it, please consult User Services at the DAAC

  Also note that any data that is spatially subsetted will be first re-projected to the Geographic projection prior to subsetting. If that data has a valid input projection, or you supply an input projection wia the Projection feature in the shopping cart or single converter page, it will be re-projected back to that input projection upon completion of the subsetting operation. This means that swath data will remain in the Geographic projection unless you select another projection to be used as the input projection. The HEG conversion utility cannot currently write data 'projected' as swath; it can write gridded data only.

• Band Subsetting [top] - To subset granules by band, click on the band subsetting icon () contained within the 'Subsetting' column of the Shopping Cart. Clicking this icon will display the Band Subsetting page (generally in its own window) for that granule. There a user can select one or more elements of the granule's band content (see below for an explanation of the visual representation of band subsetting concepts).

  Once the band selection is made you can elect to apply those selections to all granules that reside in the shopping cart by checking the ‘Apply common band selections (only) to all granules in the shopping cart’ checkbox. Note that if a band element displayed within the listing of bands is common to all granules within the shopping cart it will be marked with an asterisk (*). Only these band elements can be used in such a transaction.

  Once the band element selections have been made, click on the 'OK' button to return to the Shopping Cart.

  Note that on returning to the Shopping Cart the band subsetting icon for that granule (or all granules if an ‘Apply common band selections’ action has been applied) will have a check mark next to it indicating that a band selection has been made for that granule.

  Visual representation of Band Subsetting

  The simplest band selection a user can make is 'All'. This will select all bands for that granule.

  Each remaining band element is composed of:

  • A mandatory object name
  • A non-mandatory field name
  • A non-mandatory band name and band number
  • A non-mandatory dimension name and dimension number

  The visual representation of each band element is as follows:

  objectName:fieldName:bandName=bandNumber:dimensionName=dimensionNumber

  Examples:

  • MODIS_SWATH_Type_L1B:EV_1KM_RefSB:Band_1KM_RefSB=1

  objectName = MODIS_SWATH_Type_L1B

  fieldName = EV_1KM_RefSB

  bandName = Band_1KM_RefSB

  bandNumber = 1

   

  • MODIS_SWATH_Type_L1A:EV_1KM_RefSR:Band_1KM_RefSR=2:Dim_1KM=3

  objectName = MODIS_SWATH_Type_L1A

  fieldName = EV_1KM_RefSR

  bandName = Band_1KM_RefSR

  bandNumber = 2

  dimensionName = Dim_1KM

  dimensionNumber = 3

   

  Note that band subsetting may be turned off for selected data sets by the DAAC. If you feel band subsetting should be available on a particular data set that doesn't have it, please consult User Services at the DAAC

  Also note that any data that is subset by band will be first re-projected to the Geographic projection prior to subsetting. If that data has a valid input projection, or you supply an input projection wia the Projection feature in the shopping cart or single converter page, it will be re-projected back to that input projection upon completion of the subsetting operation. This means that swath data will remain in the Geographic projection unless you select another projection to be used as the input projection. The HEG conversion utility cannot currently write data 'projected' as swath; it can write gridded data only.

Ordering Data [top]

The simplest way to acquire data using DataPool Webaccess is to download it directly using the anonymous ftp capability (accessed by simply clicking on one of the file download icons for a granule contained within the results table). However, Webaccess also supports the conversion of data and the ordering of data on different forms of media. Conversion of data can take significant amounts of time (minutes or hours) as can placing your data onto various forms of media. For this reason, DataPool WebAccess will take your order for converted data or data on media and send an e-mail notification when the data is ready. Please note that you may choose to have your data converted OR have your unconverted data written to a selected media type. Note that converted data may be ordered on physical media (it is not restricted to FTP download or upload). The DataPool WebAccess order process begins in the shopping cart (it can also begin from the results page if you choose to convert a single granule, but the media options are limited to ftp downloading) and entails the following:

1. Once you have all the granules you want in the shopping cart, select a media type using the ‘Select Media’ button. This assumes that you have not already selected a media type. When you first add data to the shopping cart, Webaccess will prompt you to select a media type. You may select a type at that time or wait until you start the order process, in which case, ‘Select Media’ will be the next available option (otherwise, ‘Checkout’ will be displayed).
2. Once you've selected a media type, click on the 'Checkout' button and then enter your profile information on the checkout page. If you've selected 'download' as your media type, your profile consists primarily of your e-mail address (mandatory). If you've opted to get your data on a physical media type, your profile consists of a shipping address (mandatory) and contact address (optional). Enter the information as required and click ‘Order the data’.
3. DataPool sends you an e-mail acknowledgment which contains the specification and status of your order. This acknowledgment or order status page may be bookmarked and reloaded to get the updated status of the order.
4. Once the data is actually ready (could be anywhere from minutes to days depending on what you have asked the system to do), DataPool sends you an Order Notification. If you opted to download your data via ftp, the order notification will contain links to your data. At that point, it's your responsibility to download the converted data via the links. It will be removed after the amount of time indicated in the e-mail. If you selected physical media, the order notification lets you know the data is being mailed to you at the shipping address you specified. If you opted to have your data uploaded to you, the notification will indicate when and where this operation was performed.

Data may be ordered as part of requesting conversion of a single granule via the results page or as part of requesting conversions of multiple granules via the shopping cart. Note: it is possible that, due to maintenance on a data set, orders for certain granules may be temporarily prohibited. Please see the section on Data Set Maintenance for more details on data set availability.

Using the Shopping Cart [top]

The shopping cart is used to select multiple granules for simple downloading or conversion and ordering. You may even add granules from different results sets. Granules are added from the results page to the shopping cart. From the results page there are several ways to move granules into the shopping cart:

• via the 'add to cart' link (  ) that is associated with each granule in the results table
• via the 'Add Granules in this page to Shopping Cart' link - this will add all of the granules shown in the current results table page into the cart
• via the 'Add All Granules in Result Set to Shopping Cart' link - this will add all the granules of the results set into the cart

Moving granules into the shopping cart may result in media warnings if the granule size, the number of granules, or the total data size of the granules intended for the shopping cart violates the maximum physical capacity, granule count, or data size of any media type, respectively. Please see the Media section for more details on distribution media.

There is a 1000 granule limit on the size of a shopping cart. After the 1000 granule limit is reached, granules must be removed from the shopping cart or an order must be placed, thereby emptying the shopping cart, before additional granules can be added to the shopping cart. Removing granules from the shopping cart may result in media warnings if minimum data size limits are violated. Additionally, there is a limit on the number of granules having associated conversion requests. This limit is configurable by the DAAC. Please see the Media section for more details on distribution media.

Note: The shopping cart is persistent for only as long as the session is active and the shopping cart cannot be bookmarked.

The shopping cart is organized in two sections: data set summary and granule table.

The data set summary captures the notable data set level information matching the granules in your shopping cart and is displayed above the granule table.. The summary contents are as follows:

• Granule Count - the count of granules by data set.
• Average Granule Size - the average size of the granules in your shopping cart for a particular data set. Also contains a possible indication that granules with compressed science files exist in a particular Data Set with the display of '(compressed)' following the average granule size for a data set. Please see the Compressed Data section for more details on granules with compressed science files.
• Data Set Status - indicates whether browsing and ordering access is currently unavailable for the granules of a data set. This information is only displayed if the data set or a data set critical resource (e.g, file system) is not available. Please see the section on Data Set Maintenance for more details on data set availability.
• Product Quality Summary link - a link to the product quality summary statement for this data set issued by the site hosting the data set. This information will only be displayed when a product quality link is available. It is a good idea to access the product quality summary when it is available as the information contained within the summary may significantly affect your research.
• Total size of data in the shopping cart - The summation of all the granule sizes in the shopping cart
• HEG Granule Count Warning - a warning regarding the total number of granules in a shopping cart which can have associated conversion requests.
• HEG Processing Announcements - indicate when HEG processing might be unavailable and for what periods of time, etc.

The granule table section itself is comprised of a header and footer containing controls allowing you to navigate the table data and a listing of the granules currently in the cart. These navigation controls are the same as those listed for the results table on the results page.

The granule table header and footer contain the following controls that support navigation:

• New Search link () - start a new search. Cart contents are saved.
• Results link ( ) - navigate back to the results set. Cart contents are saved.
• # of rows select list (#Rows:) - this allows you to change how many rows the table displays.
• Page selection list - allows you to select any of the pages currently contained within the granule list.
• Navigation icons: first (), previous (), next () and last() - allows incremental stepping through the cart contents. Clicking the 'Next' or 'Previous' links will advance or rewind one page of granules. Clicking the 'First' or 'Last' links will go to the first or last page of granules respectively.

Granule table columns are the following:

• Granule - contains the granule id, an icon link () to the granules metadata and a 'remove from cart' link (  ). The 'remove from cart' link does exactly what you think it might: removes the granule from the cart (not from the results set) If the browse is available for this granule, a browse icon () will also be displayed in this column.
• Size - the size in megabytes (MB) of the granule science file. A size displayed in bolded font indicates a science file is stored in a compressed format. Please see the Compressed Data section for more details on granules with compressed science files.
• Format - a select list of the file formats available for writing (converting) granule science files. Choices are HDF-EOS (no conversion) or GeoTIFF.
• Projection - a select list of the projections that may be applied to the science data. Choices are dependent on the hdf object type (grid or swath) and are: No Change, Geographic, Lambert's Azimuthal Equal Area, Lambert's Conformal Conic, Polar Stereographic, Sinusoidal, State Plane Coordinate System, Tranverse Mercator, Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) and Albers.
• Subsetting - the subsetting column contains icons for both spatial and band subsetting as available. Clicking on these icons will display their respective pages (in their own windows when javascript is enabled).
• Spatial Subsetting - allows you to enter a latitude/longitude box indicating the portion of the granule's spatial extent you would like to subset. Note that entering a subsetting extent that does not intersect the granules spatial coverage will cause an error during the subsetting process. This error will cause this granule to fail during the order process and will require operator intervention which may cause a delay in your order so, PLEASE BE SURE YOU SELECT A VALID SPATIAL SUBSET! Please see the Spatial Subsetting section for more information.
• Band Subsetting - allows you to select the band or bands you want from the granule. Bands usually represent a set of wavelengths and essentially allow you to slice up the granule to get the particular wavelengths you want. The band subsetting icon will only be shown in this column if a) the granule is from a data set which may be converted, and b) the granule has bands. Please see the Band Subsetting section for more information.

Distribution Media [top]

The specifications of DataPool data distribution options are displayed in a media options table. The media options table is organized such that there is one media type displayed per row. The column organization of the media options table is as follows:

• Media Type - The name of a particular media type (i.e., 8MM, CDROM, DLT, etc.).
• Media Format - The file format in which data will be delivered for a particular media type.
• Max. Size Limit (MB) - The maximum data size, in megabytes, allowed for an order distributed in a particular media type.
• Min. Size Limit (MB) - The minimum data size, in megabytes, allowed for an order distributed in a particular media type.
• Media Capacity (MB) - The physical capacity of a particular media type, in megabytes. Note: an order cannot be distributed in a particular media type if the size of any granule is larger than that media type's capacity.
• Max. Granule Count - The maximum number of granules allowed for an order distributed in a particular media type.
• Max. HEG Granules - The maximum number of granules with associated conversion requests allowed in an order.

Currently, there are 5 data distribution options available for DataPool data - CDROM, DLT, DVD, 8MM, and the option to download data (via FTP). Note that 'File Format' is not really a valid consideration for FTP download as you simply download the files directly as you like. Compression options are available however, and will be presented to you when the order is ready. Typical compression or packaging options are tar, tar.Z, tar.gz and zip. Please note that currently, you cannot select HEG conversion operations on physical media (CD-ROM, DLT, DVD, and 8MM). You may only select HEG conversion operatons if you choose to download your data via FTP.

The media page may be presented the first time you add data to the shopping cart depending on the quantity of data added. The media page may also be the first page presented in the order process once you've finished adding data to the shopping cart. If the media page is displayed prior to ordering data, you may choose to select media then or wait until you have finished adding data to the shopping cart. If you do opt to select a media type the first time you add data to the shopping cart, the 'Checkout' button will be displayed at the bottom of the shopping cart page. Click 'Checkout' to begin the order process. You may also change your media selection at any point from the shopping cart by clicking the 'Media' button. If you haven't made a media type selection when you display the shopping cart, a 'Select Media' button will appear at the bottom of the shopping cart page. Click 'Select Media' to begin the order process. Once a media selection is made, click the 'OK' button to go to the next step, which is checkout. Please see the Checkout section for more details on the order checkout process. Or, if you are dissatisfied with your media selection you can cancel it by clicking the 'Cancel' button. In addition, clicking the ‘Go Back to Cart’ or ‘Go Back to Result Page’ buttons will take you to the shopping cart or result pages, respectively. Your media selection will be valid until the session times out or until you change it.

The media page will display media warnings and error messages as necessary to indicate whether a media type is no longer valid (and therefore made unavailable) due to the size of the current shopping cart contents. Errors may be displayed at order submittal to address any conflicts due to updates in media type specifications (media limits are configurable by ECS and are dynamically acquired by DataPool at the point of order submittal) or the automatic removal of unavailable granules from an order (granules may be unavailable due to Data Set Maintenance). Warnings may be displayed during the addition or removal of granules to the shopping cart to address distribution media limitations.

To turn off the media warnings displayed during shopping cart content modifications check the "Don't show this media warning page again" box in the media page.

Order Profile/Checkout [top]

Profile information is presented during the final step in the order submission process and is contained within the 'Checkout' page. The profile is configured depending on whether you are downloading or uploading your data via ftp or ordering your data on physical media. Additionally, the profile presented for a download is configured depending on whether you are ordering data with conversion requests or doing a simple download (i.e., no conversion processing) of your data directly from DataPool (this type of order bypasses the Order Management Subsystem). The profile configurations and their fields follow.

Download without conversion processing:

• First and Last Name (optional)
• E-mail address - this is mandatory in the case of an order because we need to e-mail you an order notification so you can get your data.
• An acknowledgment checkbox - For orders of converted granules, you get an acknowledgment e-mail when the converted granules are ready for downloading. However, when you are only ordering unconverted files, turn-around time is very quick and so we would normally not send an order acknowledgment as a popup dialog will appear with your order notification. If, however, you would like the e-mail acknowledgment regardless of whatever conversions were requested, check this box.

Download with conversion processing:

Packaging fields:


• Include input metadata checkbox - select whether you'd like to include the input metadata files for your granules. There is one input metadata file for each granule in the order.
• Include output metadata checkbox - select whether you'd like to include the output metadata files for your granules. There is one output metadata file for each output product produced.
• User Comment field - enter any comments you have on your order (special processing instructions, etc.). This is the equivalent to the field 'User String' used by the EOS Data Gateway (EDG).

Address fields:


• First and Last Name (optional)
• E-mail address - this is mandatory in the case of an order because we need to e-mail you an order notification so you can get your data.
• Telephone - as in the case of an e-mail address, a phone number is mandatory.
• Organization - an optional field to describe your organization.

Upload with conversion processing:

Upload has the same fields as Download with conversion processing and adds a set of fields called 'Upload Parameters'.

• Upload User Login - user name for the account DataPool will use to upload ('ftp push') ordered data to the system of your choice.
• Password - password for the account.
• Confirm Password - confirmation of the password entered above. If the Password and Confirm Password field values are not the same, an error will occur.
• Upload Host - domain name of the system (e.g., mybox.raytheon.com, mybox.gsfc.nasa.gov, etc.) to which the data will be pushed.
• Upload Directory - directory where you'd like the data put (e.g., /home/user/data )

Physical media (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD, DLT, etc.):

Physical media does not show or require any Upload information, but it adds full contact and shipping information as described below. All fields are mandatory except where noted.

• Shipping Address:
• First Name - enter your first name.
• Last Name - enter your last name.
• Organization - enter the relevant organization if any. This is optional.
• Street Address - enter your street address.
• City - enter the city
• State or Province - enter the state or province by typing the name or using an abbreviation from the option menu if selecting a U.S. state.
• Postal Code - enter the postal code.
• Country - enter the country
• E-mail - please provide your e-mail address
• Telephone Number - enter your phone number.
• Contact Address - has the same fields as shipping address. You only need to enter contact information if it is different from the shipping information.

Once you've filled in the profile information, click ‘Confirm Order’ to proceed to the confirmation page.

Order Confirmation [top]

The confirmation page is displayed to give you a last chance to review and revise your request. The granule table lists the granule UR and size, in megabytes, for every granule in your order. Next, the distribution media type name and format for your order is listed. Also listed are the packaging options for your order, whether to include metadata files in your order and the comments to include with your order. Lastly, your shipping address (and contact address, if provided) is displayed. If all aspects of your request are correct, click the ‘Please Submit Your Order’ button to submit your request. Otherwise, click the ‘Go Back to Cart ’ or ‘Go Back to Checkout ’ buttons to go back to the shopping cart or checkout pages, respectively, and modify elements of your order as necessary.

After submitting the request for your order, if the availability of all the data in your order can be verified, an order status page will be presented. Please see the Order Status section for more details on the status of a submitted order. Otherwise, an order submission warning or error may be displayed if the availability of some or all of the data in your order cannot be verified. Please see the Data Set Maintenance section for more information on Data Set availability.

Order Status [top]

The order status page displays the order ID and the current status of order. Revisiting or bookmarking the order status page will allow you to retrieve the status of an order after a request is made to the DataPool. Status codes are:

• Queued - the order has been acknowledged by the system and is waiting to be processed
• In Processing - the order is being processed
• Operator Intervention - the order has encountered an error state which requires that the operator intervene to further the progress of the order
• Waiting for Shipment - the order has been processed and is waiting to be shipped. This state will not occur if you elected to download your order directly via ftp.
• Shipped - the order has been shipped to the shipping address contained within the order profile
• Failed - the order is in a failed state. Contact DAAC User Services if this state occurs without your knowledge.
• Expired - the order has expired. The state can occur if the order has exceed some maximum amount of time for remaining in the system without being processed. This state will not occur if you have elected to download your order directly via ftp.

Bookmarking a Page [top]

All and any drill-down (search) pages and results pages may be bookmarked. Please note that when you bookmark a page, it is the search criteria and the application identifier that are saved. In other words, when you bookmark a results page, you aren't really bookmarking the granules for that results set, you're bookmarking the criteria that produced that result. Therefore, when you access a bookmark, a new search is performed. This means the results may be different as granules may have been added to or deleted from the DataPool since you last issued this search. Note also that the shopping cart may not be bookmarked.

If you need additional information about bookmarks, check the bookmark section in your browser documentation.

Convertible Data Sets [top]

Convertible data is identified by the converter icon () in the results screen and by the presence of conversion options in the shopping cart (i.e., the converion columns, format, projection and subsetting, will be popluated with form controls and not just blank, '-'). For more information on which data sets are convertible, please contact User Services at the DAAC.

Compressed Data [top]

Science files for granules in the DataPool can be stored in a compressed format in order to reduce the amount of disk space necessary for their storage. Metadata and browse files are not stored in a compressed format at this time. Compression is accomplished by using DAAC-provided compression algorithms. Compression is controlled at the data set level and can be turned on or off by the DAAC operators. Therefore, it is possible that only a portion of the granules in a data set may have compressed science files. The text '(compressed)' appears with the average granule size statement for a data set in the results page and the shopping cart summaries to indicate the data set may have granules with compressed science files. At the granule level in the results table and in the shopping cart, the existence of compressed science files is indicated with bolded text in the size column of the result table. Additionally, the compression downloading options that are normally made available with data in the results set are not made available for compressed granules. Appropriate decompression algorithms can be requested from DAAC user services if necessary.

Data Set Maintenance [top]

Access to a data set may be temporarily prohibited to allow for data maintenance by site (DAAC) operations. If a data set is unavailable, users may be prevented from drilling-down on the data set, browsing or downloading files belonging to the data set, or ordering granules for the data set. At order submittal time, orders containing only granules associated with unavailable data sets will be prevented until maintenance is complete on those data sets. For an order with granules associated with a mixture of available and unavailable data sets, a warning message will be displayed and users will be given the option to ‘Submit Anyway ’, which will submit the order with only the granules that are part of available data sets. Contact user services for more specific information on the maintenance cycle for a particular data set.