Glossary

Acronym Definition
AEM-2 Application Explorer Mission-2
ASF Alaska SAR Facility
CD Compact Disc
DOE Department of Energy
FOV Field of View
GB gigabyte (10^9)
GCDC Global Change Data Center
GEBA Global Energy Budget Archive
GEWEX Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment
GISS Goddard Institute for Space Studies
GLIS Global Land Information System
GMT Greenwich Mean Time
GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center
GTE Global Tropospheric Experiment
GUI Graphical User Interface
HALOE Halogen Occultation Experiment
HDF Hierarchical Data Format: A flexible, standard, public-domain file format designed for sharing graphical and floating point data among different programs and machines.
IGAP International Global Aerosol Program
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
ISCCP International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project
Infrared Radiation (IR) Radiation with a wavelength from 0.7 to 200 micrometers.
JERS-1 Japanese Earth Remote-sensing Satellite-1
K Kelvin
LAC Local Area Coverage
Landsat Land Remote-Sensing Satellite
CLARREO-PF Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory Pathfinder (CLARREO Path.)
RICO Rain In Cumulus over the Ocean
KORUS-AQ Korea-United States Air Quality Field Study
AJAX Alpha Jet Atmospheric eXperiment
INTEX-B Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment - Phase B
SOOT Sub-Orbital Order Tool
MAS MODIS Airborne Simulator
SAGE Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment
SAM Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement
SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar
SDSC San Diego Supercomputer Center
TES Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer
TGDDIS Trace Gas Dynamics Data Information System
THORpex THe Observing-system Research and predictability experiment
TM Thematic Mapper
TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (U.S.-Japan)
Temporal Coverage The time span over which a data set was collected or generated.
Troposphere The lowermost layer of the atmosphere marked by considerable turbulence and generally a decrease in temperature with increasing height.
UARS Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite
UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
URL Uniform (or Universal) Resource Locator
USGCRP United States Global Change Research Program
USGS United States Geological Survey
Ultraviolet Radiation with a wavelength from 0.2 to 0.4 micrometers.
User Profile Identification information about a user, his shipping address, his billing address, and his system preferences.
User and Data Services The Scientific User and Data Services (SUDS) group provides technical and operational support for users ordering data sets and for data producers wishing to ingest their data sets. The UDS staff members provide telephone support for users with questions involving the online system, discipline specific data set inquiries, and ordering concerns.
VAS VISSR Atmospheric Sounder
ms millisecond
CDIAC Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
ECA Earth Central Angle
EOS Earth Observing System: The EOS program is NASA's contribution to the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). The purpose of this program is "to assess the Earth's condition, understand its processes, predict its future state, and find ways to ensure that the collective actions of humanity on the environment do not undermine its viability".
EOSDIS Earth Observing System Data and Information System: EOSDIS will manage data for NASA's Earth science research satellites at the DAACs and Affiliated Data Centers (ADC). The purpose of this system is to provide scientists with a method to access Earth science data from a variety of science disciplines.
EOSP Earth Observing System Polarimeter
ERBE Earth Radiation Budget Experiment
ERBS Earth Radiation Budget Satellite
EROS Earth Resources Observing System
ERS-1 Earth Remote-sensing Satellite-1
ESA European Space Agency
ESDIS Earth Science Data and Information System
Ephemeris A tabular statement of the spatial coordinates of a celestial body or a spacecraft as a function of time.
FORTRAN FORmula TRANslation
FTP File Transfer Protocol
Flux Rate of energy transfer by electromagnetic radiation.
GAC Global Area Coverage
GMS Geostationary Meteorological Satellite
GPS Global Positioning System
HDF-EOS Hierarchical Data Format for Earth Observing System
HIRS High Resolution Infrared Sounder
HRPT High Resolution Picture Transmission
IEOS International Earth Observing System
IFOV Instantaneous Field of View
IGBP International Geosphere - Biosphere Programme
Integrated Browse This function will allow the user to use the system-level IMS interface to specify an area of interest, execute a search query on remote DAACs, use the search results to determine browse image availability, simultaneously display coverage for more than one data granule on a map, and display browse images.
Inventory A uniform set of descriptions of granules from one or more data sets with information required to select and obtain a subset of those granules. Granule descriptions typically include temporal and spatial coverage, status indicators, and physical storage information. An inventory may describe physical granules, logical granules, or both, including a mapping between them if they are not identical.
JMA Japan Meteorological Agency
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory
PREFIRE Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment
LASE Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment
LITE Lidar-in-space Technology Experiment
LW Longwave Radiation: Electromagnetic radiation emitted by the Earth, largely in the range from 3 to 50 micrometers.
GoMACCS Gulf of Mexico Aerosol Composition and Climate Study
SCAR-B Smoke/Sulfates, Clouds and Radiation - Brazil
CPEX Convective Processes Experiment
LMOS Lake Michigan Ozone Study
CAMEX-4 Convection And Moisture Experiment - fourth field campaign
TIROS Television and Infrared Operational Satellite
TOMS Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
VIM VISSR Multiplexor/Modulator
ATOST Atlantic - THORpex Observing System Test
ATTREX Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment (ATTREX)
AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
Aerosols A gaseous suspension of fine particles.
Albedo The ratio of the amount of radiation reflected by a body to the amount incident upon it.
Apogee The point of the orbit of a satellite of the Earth that is farthest from the Earth.
Browse Data Product Subsets of a larger data set, other than the directory and guide, generated for the purpose of allowing rapid interrogation (e.g., visualization) of the larger data set by a potential user.
C-MARE Central Mediterranean Aerosol and Radiation Experiment
CALIPSO Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations
CAMEX Convection And Moisture Experiment
CATS Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS)
CDAS Command and Data Acquisition Station
CDDIS Crustal Dynamics Data Information System
CDF Common Data Format
CDMS Cryospheric Data Management System
CDRC CIESIN: Data and Research Center
CERES Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System
CIESIN Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network
CL Command Language
CLAMS Chesapeake Lighthouse and Aircraft Measurements for Satellites
COARE Continental Ocean-Atmosphere Regional Experiment
COTS Commercial Off The Shelf
CZCS Coastal Zone Color Scanner
Campaign/Project Large scientific missions under which a variety of experiments have taken place (e.g., ERBE, ISCCP).
Clouds A visible aggregate of minute water droplets and/or ice crystals in the atmosphere above the Earth's surface.
Coverage Map A two dimensional graphical representation of the geographic coverage of selected inventory granules.
DAAC Distributed Active Archive Center: A data center that generates EOS standard products and carries out NASA's responsibilities for data archive, distribution, and information management.
DADS Data Archive and Distribution System: The system component of the DAAC that provides for the physical storage of the data and the means to distribute the data to requesters. At Langley, the DADS component is comprised of the of an IBM RS/6000 Model 320H work-station, a DISC robotic optical disk system, Unitree file management software, and a customized order processing system.
DSCOVR Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR)
Data Set A logically meaningful grouping or collection of similar or related data.
Directory A collection of uniform descriptions that summarize the contents of a large number of data sets. It provides information suitable for making an initial determination of the existence and contents of each data set.
Discipline The area of science in which the data are normally used (e.g., Radiation Budget, Clouds).
ECMWF European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasting
ECS EOSDIS Core System
EDC EROS Data Center
EDG EOS Data Gateway
MAIA Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols
ARCTAS Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites
INTEX-A Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment - North America Phase A
LISTOS Long Island Sound Tropospheric Ozone Study
ACRIM Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor
ADC Affiliated Data Center: A facility not funded by NASA that processes, archives, and distributes Earth science data useful for Global Change research, with which a working agreement has been negotiated by the EOS Program.
ARB 48" Lidar Aerosol Research Branch
ARESE ARM (Atmospheric Radiation Measurement) Enhanced Shortwave Experiment
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange
TEMPO Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution
BIO_BURN Biomass Burning Project
DISCOVER-AQ Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality
Aeolus Cal/Val Aeolus Calibration/Validation
DC3 Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3)
DIF Directory Interchange Format: A de-facto standard used to create directory entries which describe a group of data.
DISC Document Imaging Systems Corporation
FIRE First ISCCP Regional Experiment
GCMD Global Change Master Directory
GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
Geostationary Satellite A satellite that remains over a fixed point because its rate of travel corresponds to the Earth's rate of rotation.
Granule The smallest aggregation of data that is independently managed (e.g., described, inventoried, retrievable).
Guide A uniform set of detailed descriptions for one or more data sets and related entities, containing information suitable for determining the location and content of each data set and its potential usefulness for a specific application.
HTML Hypertext Markup Language
IGAC International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Program of the IGBP
IMS Information Management System: An online user interface which provides data and metadata to the science community on a 24-hour basis; accepts user orders for data; provides information about future data acquision and processing schedules and maintains information on system status, management and coordination.
Irradiance Flux divided by the area through which it passes (W/m2).
LIDAR Light Detection and Ranging Instrument
MAPS Measurement of Atmospheric Pollution from Satellites
Tutorial Online help system that demonstrates the functionality of the IMS.
VBBE Virtual Biomass Burning Experiment
ACEPOL Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar
CAMP2Ex The Cloud, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment
FIREX-AQ Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality
Humidity A general term referring to water vapor in the air.
IBM International Business Machines
ICARTT International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation
IDL Interactive Data Language
IR Infrared Radiation
LaRC Langley Research Center
MODIS Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer
MOPITT Measurement Of Pollution In The Troposphere
MSU Microwave Sounding Unit
Media Physical means of distributing data (e.g., tapes, CD-ROMS).
NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
NCDC National Climatic Data Center
NCDS NASA's Climate Data System
NCSA National Center for Supercomputing Applications
NGDC National Geophysical Data Center
NMC National Meteorological Center
NODC National Oceanographic Data Center
NODIS NSSDC Online Data Information Service
NODS NASA Ocean Data System
NO^2 Nitrogen Dioxide
NSIDC National Snow and Ice Data Center
NSSDC National Space Science Data Center
Net Radiation Difference in intensity between all incoming energy and all outgoing energy carried by both shortwave and longwave radiation.
NetCDF Network Common Data Format
Nimbus NASA Meteorological Satellites
ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory
OSTA Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications
Package A predetermined set of preselected, predefined and prearranged data (granules) organized for distribution.
Palette A color lookup table that specifies which color to associate with each pixel value on the scren. A palette consists of an array of 256 RGB (Red-Green-Blue) colors.
SCAR-A Smoke/Sulfates, Clouds and Radiation - America
SDAC Satelitte Data Analysis Center
SDS Scientific Data Set: An HDF set that stores rectangular gridded arrays of floating-point and integer data together with information about the data.
SDSD Satellite Data Services Division
SEDAC Socio-Economic Data and Applications Center
SGI Silicon Graphic - Iris
TOPEX Ocean Topography Experiment
TOVS TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder
UTC Universal Time, Coordinated
UAE United Arab Emirates - Unified Aerosol Experiment 2004
ORACLES ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS
ARISE Arctic Radiation - IceBridge Sea&Ice Experiment
Local Browse This function will allow you to use the Langley DAAC IMS search system to identify available browse products and display browse images on the IMS or FTP transfer those browse products back to his or her workstation for display at a later time.
ACTIVATE Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment
MB megabyte (10^6)
METEOSAT Geosynchronous Meteorology Satellite (ESA)
MFOV Medium Field of View
MFSC Marshall Space Flight Center
MIR Multispectral Imaging Radiometer
MISR Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer
MSS Multispectral Scanner
Metadata Descriptive information pertaining to data sets. This includes data set descriptions in directories, guides, and inventories, plus any additional information that defines the relationships among them.
NARSTO North American Research Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NCEP National Centers for Environmental Prediction
NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data & Information Services
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NVAP NASA Water Vapor Project
Nadir Direction toward the center of the Earth.
Ozone O^3: A molecule of oxygen containing three oxygen atoms.
PB petabyte (10^15)
PGE Product Generation Executable
PGS Product Generation System
PLDS Pilot Land Data
POAM Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement
POWER Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resource
PV Precision Visuals
Parameter A general term (e.g., temperature, humidity) that describes a similar group of variables.
Pathfinder Data Set A long-term, global Earth science data set produced from non-EOS data using community consensus algorithms as part of the EOSDIS Program.
Perigee The point of the orbit of a satellite of the Earth that is nearest the Earth.
Processing Level A classification of data products by the method of processing used in their generation.
Product Generation System An EOS DAAC element that performs data processing functions, including routine generation of standard data products, routine generation of associated quick-look products, metadata, and browse data sets, reprocessing of data, and retrospective generation of new standard data products.
RGB Red-Green-Blue
RIS Raster Image Set
ROM Read Only Memory
Radiance Irradiance per unit solid angle (W/m2 - steradian).
Radiation Budget The condition of balance between incoming solar shortwave radiation and outgoing longwave radiation emitted by the Earth into space.
Raster Image Set A set of tags and associated information required to store an image in an HDF file.
Raw Raster File A raw binary file in which a stram of raw, 8-bit data are in row-major order. Each 8-bit byte corresponds to a pixel in the image.
VIS Visible: Radiation with a wavelength from 0.4 to 0.7 micrometers.
VISSR Visible and Infrared Spin-Scan Radiometer
SEAC4RS Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS)
SMM Solar Maximum Mission
SMMR Scanning Multispectral Microwave Radiometer
SMS Synchronous Meteorological Satellite
SPDB Science Processing Database
SPOT Systeme Pou lObservation de la Terre (France)
SRB Surface Radiation Budget
SSE Surface Solar Energy
SSM/I Special Sensor Microwave/Imager
STS Space Transport System
SUCCESS SUbsonic aircraft Contail and Clouds Effects Special Study
SUDS Science, User and Data Services
SW Shortwave Radiation: Electromagnetic radiation in the range from 0.2 to 3 micrometers, including most of the energy spectrum of solar radiation.
SeaWiFS Sea-viewing Wide Fied-of-view Sensor
Seasat Sea Satellite
Sensor The instruments which collect the data (e.g., VISSR, MIR).
Solar Constant Intensity of solar radiation falling upon a unit area of surface held at right angles to the Sun's rays at a point outside the Earth's atmosphere.
Source The platforms or vehicles which carry the instruments (e.g., ERBS, NOAA).
Spatial Coverage An area on the surface of the Earth or an altitude range covered by a data set.
Stratosphere The zone of the atmosphere above the troposphere that is characterized at first by isothermal conditions and then a gradual temperature increase.
TARFOX Tropospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing Observational Experiment
TB terabyte (10^12)
Version 0 (V0) The development of EOSDIS will be evolutionary in nature and will be built in a series of versions to facilitate change by incorporating existing technologies, scientific expertise, operational experience, facilities, and supporting infrastructure. The first step in this evolutionary process is EOSDIS Version 0 -- a working prototype.
W Watts
WCRP World Climate Research Program
WFOV Wide Field of View
WIST Warehouse Inventory Search Tool
WMO World Meteorological Organization
WWW World Wide Web
Wetnet Network for Distribution and Joint Analysis of SSM/I (MSFC)
XML Extensible Markup Language
cm centimeter
kB kilobyte (10^3)
km kilometer
SAMUM Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment
NAAMES North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study
OWLETS Ozone Water-Land Environmental Transition Study
DCOTSS Dynamics and Chemistry of the Summer Stratosphere
m meter
mb millibar
mm millimeter
mrad microradians
rpm revolutions per minute
um micrometer
IOS Instrument Operations System