A set of one or more related parameters that describe the state of a domain. A physical domain may be associated with more than one state.
A device that measures a physical phenomenon or parameter. At a minimum, it possesses a detector which produces a signal from which the desired quantity is calculated or inferred. The detector signal possesses the information needed to either obtain the value of the phenomenon (e.g, temperature: a voltage is converted into a temperature unit) or infer its value using further processing and computation (magnetic fields: detector intensities at a different wavelengths and polarization states are processed to infer a magnetic field strength). An instrument does not necessarily require a way to store its measured quantity (e.g, a hard disk).
Set of parameters describing a physical domain that all have electric charge = -1
Set of parameters describing a physical domain that all have electric charge > 0
A plot of the selected variable (Y axis) versus time (X axis)
OPeNDAP DAS (Data Attribute Structure) data file
A contour plot of the selected variable versus Height (Y axis) and Time (X axis)
An instrument that uses the principle of interference of electromagnetic waves for purposes of measurement. Note: Interferometers may be used to measure a variety of physical variables, such as displacement (distance), temperature, pressure, and strain.
OPeNDAP DDX (Data descriptor in XML) data file
OPeNDAP DDS (Data Descriptor Structure) data file
Generic class that defines the functionality for querying metadata information from a data archive. The results of the query may be constrained by an associated DataConstraint object. Instances of MetadataService and DataConstraint are created on demand to support a transient query session.
Set of parameters describing a physical domain that all have electric charge = 0
A multiple-beam interferometer, usually consisting of two flat plates, with high reflective ability. The plates are set parallel to one another by spacers so that light waves may bounce back and forth between them several times. The requirements for constructive interference of reflected light waves of a given wavelength can be fulfilled only at particular angles, relative to the normal to the plates. Therefore, Fabry-Perot interferometers can be used as spectrometers with high resolution. Used as a laser resonator, the Fabry-Perot reinforces only light of specific frequencies traveling perpendicular to the mirror surfaces, and its successive reflections and amplifications form the oscillating mode.
A physical quantity with electric charge = 0
A measured physical property in signal units. It has units and possibly a timestamp. The signal units are not the physical ones, like Gauss or Kelvin, but are something inherent in the detector, like volts or ADU's. The physical units are either calculated or inferred from the signal units.
A collection of observations of the physical quantity of interest. They usually have a location, observatory, instrument, and parameter (or set of parameters) associated with them. They also have a format along with an epoch over which they were taken.
A collection of data storage media and services that is accessible through a unified interface. A data archive may contain datasets from multiple instruments and multiple observatories.
A configuration which allows the instrument to produce the required signal.
Utility class representing a generic (name,value) pair
A facility which houses and operates one or more instruments either synoptically or periodically. It has a physical location and operating hours. It can be either manned or remote.
A contour plot of the selected variable versus latitude (Y axis) and longitude (X axis)
Class representing the electric charge of a system of particles
From the 7–17 km range (upper boundary of the Troposphere) to about 50 km, temperature increasing with height.
Or ozonosphere, the region of the Earth's Atmosphere approximately in the range 10 - 50 km, where stratospheric ozone is found. Note that even within this region, ozone is a minor constituent by volume.
From 80–85 km (upper boundary of the Mesosphere) to 640+ km, temperature increasing with height.
From about 50 km (upper boundary of the Stratosphere) to the range of 80 km to 85 km, temperature decreasing with height.
The region of the Earth Atmosphere where the Earth's magnetic field interacts with the solar wind from the Sun. It extends for tens of thousands of kilometers, with a long tail away from the Sun.
The region of the Earth Atmosphere above the Ionosphere, where the atmosphere thins out into space. This is the last major atmosphere.
From the Greek word "tropos" meaning to turn or mix. The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere starting at the surface going up to between 7 km at the poles and 17 km at the equator with some variation due to weather factors. The troposphere has a great deal of vertical mixing due to solar heating at the surface. This heating warms air masses, which then rise to release latent heat as sensible heat that further buoys the air mass. This process continues until all water vapor is removed. In the troposphere, on average, temperature decreases with height due to expansive cooling.
The region of the Earth's Atmosphere above the mesopause.
The region of the Earth Atmosphere containing ions: approximately the mesosphere and thermosphere up to 550 km.