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20000303: access to satellite data

>From: "Jennie L. Moody" <address@hidden>
>Organization: UVa
>Keywords: 200003032116.OAA09221 Unidata-Wisconsin

Jennie,

>Well, your conversation with Dee anticipated a conversation
>I wanted to have with you sometime before the UserComm meeting
>(I guess that would make it next week).

Actually, it is the week of the 16th.  It seems that a number of people
have been expecting it the week of the 8th.

>I had heard about
>the new data access from Bob after the last PolComm meeting:
>
>On Jan 31, 12:27, Bob Fox wrote:
>> Subject: husband, data
>> Hi Jenny:
>> 
 ...
>> 
>> Re data: If no one has yet informed you, please see 
>> 
>> http://pm.ssec.wisc.edu/data/
>> 
>> and take whatever action seems appropriate in your case. Hope it
>> helps. If this goes well for us and is well received by the limited
>> PolCom community in the next couple of months, I'd like to have a more
>> general announcement made at the UserCom meeting the end of March. And
>> this doesn't mean that you can't tell anyone else between now and
>> then. Go ahead. I'm just trying to get some experience in with a
>> smaller group before opening the floodgates.
>> 
>> Bob.
>> -- End of excerpt from Bob Fox <address@hidden>

I was not aware of this until Dee asked me if I knew about it.  In talking
with Dave, I found out that Bob had supposedly announced this to the Policy
Committee, but I did not get the email (even though I am on the email
list).

>Anyway, I hadn't gotten around to looking at the archive (hadn't needed
>anything at the moment).

They are very cool and have lots of data.

>However, I did note that they were going to
>offer to make the data available via ADDE.

By ADDE and/or FTP.

>This seems really nice, but
>I wondered about the access to GEMPAK users (maybe we shouldn't worry
>about them, let them worry about themselves :-).

They can get the data by FTP.  The problem that they may run into is
I don't believe that they can handle 10-bit images.

>I had actually
>already been thinking that one way to make more data available to the
>community, and to see what people are most interested in getting, would
>be to make a machine running an ADDE server available in a "test"
>mode.

It has been a long term goal of mine to make the Unidata-Wisconsin
data archives available by ADDE.  Recent and ongoing work at SSEC should
allow ADDE access to those files even though they are not named in
the standard McIDAS manner.

>How many requests would there really be for high-res visible
>imagery for instance, versus multiple-band imagery, or sounder data?

I am betting that the great majority of data requests for realtime data
(if offered) would be for 1 km VIS imagery.  What historic data would
be requested is a mystery, but I would venture to guess imager IR
channels and eventually sounder channels (by folks like you/UVa).

>This might be a good way to tell, what are the users going out to get?

I think that the User's Committee needs to send out a questionaire
about what people would like to see in the UW stream.  I bounced this
off of Gilbert and he was emphatic that the users should be asked directly.

>We would also find out if it was impractical to run a server this way
>(gets too busy to handle traffic).

The SSEC data center is delivering a huge quantity of data right now.
The amounts in the UW stream are miniscule in comparison.  As far as
I know, there is plenty of opportunity for data volume growth.

>I wanted to bring these things up
>because I know that the discussion of satellite data was back on the
>agenda for the User Comm meeting (I think partly because I had wanted
>it to be there).  If you guys are proposing upgrading a machine at SSEC
>for a GOES Archive machine, maybe it could also maintain an ADDE server
>of current data at better temporal and spatial resolution than what is
>sent out via the UW-Unidata feed?

Great minds think alike.  This was my intention all along.

>In this way, the server could have
>two purposes, as an archive request interface, and as a real-time ADDE
>server with different data available.

Right. Realtime for not only imagery but MDXX, GRID and TEXT data as well.
My goal was to try and setup a series of ADDE servers which sites could
access in lieu of running XCD themselves.  This would help out the
small sites considerably.

>I expected that two things that would be discussed under the Sattellite
>Data agenda item
>
>1) changes to the NOAAPort data stream that will include NESDIS Derived
>   Product Images (DPI's)

I believe that these products are the ones that CIMSS is pushing for us
to send out in the UW stream.  Theirs, however, will not be remapped
into PS projection.

>2) changes to the Unidata/Wisconsin data stream that could make more
>   satellite data available to the community (this discussion has always
>   gotten hung up on what to add:  higher spatial temporal or spectral
>   imagery).  I asked before about making new data available via ADDE and
>   you said it wasn't practical, maybe this is a way to test that....?

I said that it wasn't practical?  I don't think so.  I may have been
talking about the inability of oppening up the regular SSEC ADDE
data servers to the community.  That comment still stands.  Opening
up our own machine would be possible/desirable/workable.

>Let me know if this is something we could/should talk about before the
>UserComm.

This whole datastream issue is crying for action.  We need to survey
the users to find out what they want AND can handle.  We need to find
out if providing even more data by ADDE is desirable (it will be
for McIDAS users, but GEMPAKers will feel left out).  I need to setup
a cooperating network of ADDE sites willing to give each other access
to their data holdings.  And lots more.

>Keep your finger crossed that we don't have a disaster here, windfall
>has started "screeching", and the sound appears to be coming from the
>internal hard drive (yes its well backed-up at least).

It could be the CPU fan.

>We are trying
>to get a new one ordered and delivered ASAP, and will hope we can limp
>through the weekend until we get a chance to put the new one in and do
>a disc copy.....I really didn't need this on top of everything else.

Right.

>If it dies, it will be a major hassle since we are providing flight
>support and archiving everything for NCAR TOPSE flights, and another
>flight sequence to the arctic begins on Sunday.

Bummer!

Tom
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