MIRADOR FAQ

What is Mirador?

Mirador is a simplified interface for searching, browsing, and ordering Earth science data at NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC). Mirador is designed to be fast and easy to learn.

Do I need to register?

No. All of the data at NASA's Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) is online and available for immediate FTP download.

How do I subset data?

Several, but not all of the data sets available through Mirador may be subsetted spatially, by parameter, by channel, or by variable. The particular type of subsetting that can be performed varies according to the data set. When files from any data set that can be subsetted are chosen to be added to the Mirador shopping cart, a subsetting service for that data set can be selected from a page displaying the Available Services for each data set. Once you choose a subsetting service and select "Continue to Shopping Cart", those files added to the shopping cart will be subsetted when you download them, either individually from the Shopping Cart page, or in bulk when you checkout.

When I try to download subsetted data, why am I told the data is not available for downloading?

It is possible that if a spatial subsetting bounding box is selected for a data set lacking global spatial coverage, the bounding box may not overlap the spatial coverage of the file being subsetted. (I.e., there will be no data in the area selected by the bounding box.)  In that case, when attempting to download the file, a Web page will be displayed stating that the file is not available for downloading. This situation is less likely to happen if the bounding box used for subsetting is the same as, or completely encloses, the bounding box used as the location when searching for files.

How do I convert data to NetCDF?

Several, but not all of the collections available through Mirador may be converted to NetCDF. When files from any data set that can be converted to NetCDF are chosen to be added to the Mirador shopping cart, a Convert to NetCDF service for that data set can be selected from a page displaying the Available Services for each data set. Once you choose "Convert to NetCDF" and select "Continue to Shopping Cart", those files added to the shopping cart will be converted when you download them, either individually from the Shopping Cart page, or in bulk when you checkout.

How do I find data which coincide with hurricanes?

On either the Mirador homepage, or at the top of any subsequent pages, is a form containing a field for Events. Many different kinds of events can be entered there, such as hurricanes, typhoons, storms, ozone, and aerosols. Hurricane data is constantly being added to the database so there is no way as yet to view a list of what hurricane data is in Mirador. So just enter a hurricane name of your choice in the event field, such as Bud, Katrina, Yagi, Yutu, Ewiniar, Ioke, John, Florence... Place a physical parameter or collection description in the keyword field. You may also limit the search by placing a time constraint in the time span fields. Results will come back that are constrained by the event you entered. Also, a 'Did You Mean' box is offered to allow you to narrow the results even more, perhaps by specifying the intensity of the event (hurricane and typhoon positions are recorded as they pass through various levels, such as tropical depression, tropical storm, category 1, category 2, etc).

How do I download related data products?

To download AIRS LEVEL 1B related data products together, put AIRS L1B in the keyword field.
(AIRHBRAD, AIRVBQAP, AIRIBQAP, AIRIBRAD, AIRVBRAD, AIRABRAD)

To download AIRS LEVEL 2 related data products together, put AIRS L2 in the keyword field.
(AIRH2CCF, AIRH2RET, AIRX2RET, AIRI2CCF, AIRX2SUP, AIRH2SUP).

To download AIRS LEVEL 3 related data products together, put AIRS L3 in the keyword field.
(AIRX3STD, AIRH3STD)

To download AIRS LEVEL 3 monthly related data products together, put AIRS monthly in the keyword field.
(AIRX3QPM, AIRH3QPM, AIRX3STM, AIRH3STM, AIRH3ST8)

To download AIRS LEVEL 3 5 day products together, put AIRS pentad in the keyword field.
(AIRX3QP5,AIRH3QP5,AIRX3QM5,AIRH3QM5)

To download AIRS LEVEL 3 8 day products together, put AIRS 8 day in the keyword field.
(AIRX3ST8, AIRH3ST8).

How do I download data over Aeronet stations?

Enter Aeronet Station into the location field and Mirador will give you a sampling of Aeronet stations. To find data over a particular station, such as China_Lake, enter china_lake station in the location field.

I want to download a large volume of data for a particular dataset.  What is the best way to do that?

We recommend the following procedure:

1. Go to http://mirador.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.shtml

2. In the Keyword textbox, type the product shortname.  (For example, "TRMM_3A12")

3. In the Time Span textbox, designate the time span for data from the selected dataset.

4. In the Location textbox, put the spatial selection for the data, or leave blank to select the default global region.

5. Click the Search GES-DISC button. 

6. The result page from the search will supply a list of products. Click on the View Files button under the listing of the desired product.  Be sure to check the name in parentheses at the end of the text line.  As an example, for TRMM_3A12 it will say:  TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) Level 3 Monthly 0.5 degree x 0.5 degree  Profiling V6 (3A12) at GES DISC (TRMM_3A12)".  On the same page, there will be a list of all the files. Scroll to the bottom of the page to choose either "Add Selected Files to Cart" or "Add All Files in All Pages To Cart".  

7. The next page is the service selection page – you can "continue to shopping cart" or "choose to download via http". 

8. The next page is the shopping cart.  For the example, the user would see see a checkbox with the (TRMM_3A12 v.006) description next to it, and the number of files. This box would be clicked, then select Checkout  in the Cart Options in the upper-right menu. This will bring up the “Checkout – Choose from Download Option" page. 

This page offers multiple ways to actual download the data. Those methods are:

   1. JDataDownloader - This is a platform independent HTTP and FTP client. Its main function is data transfer between a remote and a local computer. By default, it runs in graphical mode. Optionally, it can be run in a non-interactive mode. In the graphical mode, the user can monitor the progress of data transfer and control (pause and resume) data transfer. It requires Java 1.4.2 or higher be installed on the user's computer.

   2. wget - wget is a utility which will download any URL with any protocol (HTTP, FTP etc). We provide a script which may be copied to a user's machine and used for batch downloading with wget.

   3. "On the fly" tar - Users can download all selected data from a given host as a single tar file. This option is not available with NetCDF and subsetting services.

   4. FTP Batch Script - This is a script which may be copied to the user's machine and used as an input script to an ftp command. This has been the default offering from Mirador to date.

Instructions for running script:

On SGI or Linux platforms, run:    ftp -p -n < script
On DOS, SunOS or Windows/Mac platforms, run:    ftp -n -s:script

   5. Down_Them_All - There is a Mozilla/Firefox plug-in which allows users to download all links on the page. A dialog box appears with a list of links to download. The dialog box offers a variety of ways to filter which links are downloaded so that only files with a particular suffix (as an example) will be downloaded and not just arbitrary web pages mentioned on the page. So, for this plug-in, Mirador displays the items from the cart as a list of links.  At the top of the Mirador page there is a user option if they want to retain items in the cart after selecting a download option. Check this box to keep items in cart.  If the option to keep the items in the cart is not selected, the cart will automatically be emptied when any download option is selected.

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