Data from SeaWiFS instrument, on board of the
Orbview-2 (formerly named SeaStar) Spacecraft, are at
present received at Maspalomas, Tromsoe and Scanzano
Stations. For those Stations, coordinated by ESA, the
access has been obtained through NASA by the signature of a
letter of agreement (Dear Colleague Letter for data
reception) between the Station Operator and NASA with the
endorsement of ESA.
The Level 1A SeaWiFS Distribution product is a
portion of 4 minutes extracted from the corresponding Level
1A archive product and reformatted into CEOS format for
distribution.
It consists of 5 CEOS data files:
- VOLUME DIRECTORY FILE, which provides all product
identification, documentation and processing information.
- LEADER FILE, which provides scene related information.
- IMAGERY FILE, which contains Level 1A image data (Raw
data).
- ANNOTATION FILE, which provides navigation angles
information and coastlines/boundaries/grid.
- NULL VOLUME DIRECTORY FILE, which is necessary on
tape media to indicate the end of the data.
Product characteristics:
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Pixel Resolution: 1.1 km at nadir
Size: 1285 pixels/line
Content: Original SeaWIFS 8 bands raw data level0;
Geolocation grid; Sun and Satellites Angles coastlines,
boundaries Land Sea Mask.
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The rules for the access and distribution of the
SeaWiFS data are summarised as follows:
1) The Stations will have free access to full
resolution
data decrypted from the real-time down-link acquired
during Satellite overpasses after a delay period of
minimum 14 days from acquisition.
2) Data have to be used for research purposes only and
can be distributed at cost of reproduction only to
users that have signed a letter of agreement with
NASA (Dear Colleague Letter for data access).
User access to SeaWiFS products is realized through
the MUIS. MUIS can be accessed through the WWW and allows
the user to browse into the Quick-looks of satellite passes
that have been acquired and archived by the Stations. The
user is allowed to select the scenes and specify the type
of product to order. The order can then be sent either via
e-mail or fax to the Esrin User Service. Acceptance of the
order by ESRIN is submitted to the verification that the
user is included in the list of research users acknowledged
by NASA.
Delivery of products will be done by mail on Exabyte
tapes. On-line delivery through FTP is planned for the
future and subject to the availability of higher throughput
lines.
